Ligety wins World Cup GS by 1.05 seconds

Ted Ligety is on fire.

After taking the opening GS at Beaver Creek last Sunday by a massive margin, the defending GS champion, put up an even larger margin in the second GS of the season at Val d’Isere today (Dec. 11) winning by a 1.05 second count over Norway’s Askel Lund Svindal. Massimiliano Blardone of Italy was third 1.21 back.

On a near perfect day for racing, with no wind, bright sun and temperatures well below freezing Ligety notched his seventh career World Cup GS win, and second of the season, on the course where he won a bronze medal in the 2009 World Championships. It is the third U.S. win of the season and the 214th in the history of the World Cup.

“That was a clinic out there today,” said an obviously elated coach Sasha Rearick. “He skied great, top to bottom. … It was perfect execution, true champion style. I’ve been coaching Ted a long time and I’ve never seen him flying this kind of confidence in GS.”

That’s saying a lot of a man who has already won two World Cup GS titles.

Ligety had been concerned about getting enough recovery time between the two back-to-back GS’s, at Beaver Creek and Val d’Isere, but reported he set a personal record for sleeping at 14 hours.

Calling it “one of the hardest races in a long time,” Ligety said he was surprised to learn he had won by such a large margin. “The key here is just not to make mistakes and to push hard. If you charge on, you have a chance to win,” Ligety told Reuters.

“I felt I had the E-brake on, just struggling to make it down the hill, but both runs were relatively error free, he said.

The last American to win a GS at Val d’Isere was Bode Miller in 2004. Miller was a victim of the first of two courses, one of 20 skiers who failed to negotiate the track. No other American qualified for a second run by finishing among the top 30.

Canadian Robbie Dixon, better known on the downhill and super G tracks, climbed from the 51st start to make a second run and wound up 24th on the day, his third career score in the GS discipline.

“Anyone who can score points here is a survivor,” said Dixon. “I just kept charging and trying to attack, but the tank was empty.”

Swiss Carlo Janka, the defending overall champion finished in fourth and Benjamin Raich, a question mark because of a bad back, skied well to get fifth. The fastest second run went to little known German Fritz Dopfer, but his first run left with with considerable ground to make up and he wound tied for 16th

A notoriously slow started in past years, this fast start to the GS season for Ligety is significant.

Veteran Benjamin Raich had to skip the Beaver Creek GS because of a bad back, but showed no problems in France as Austria’s top finisher in fifth.

“You always have to stay tuned and make no mistake. In addition, the course setting meant you had to make every curve exactly, all together this race was extremely difficult. Ted, for years, has been at a high level. … It is not by chance he is a World Cup winner.”

Gepa photo

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup Giant Slalom, Val d’Isere, France, Dec. 11, 2010. … It is the eighth race on the men’s 38 race 2010-2011 World Cup schedule with a cancellation (Soelden GS) and a postponement (Beaver Creek DH) on the books. … It is the sixth race held. … It is the third of eight scheduled men’s  GS’s the second of seven remaining scheduled. … It is the 153rd World Cup race held at Val d’Isere which has hosted since Dec. 11, 1968. … It is the 41st Cup GS at the site.

It is the seventh career World Cup win for Ted Ligety (all in GS) and his second of the season.  … It is the 214th U.S. World Cup win and third of the season. … It is the tenth U.S. Cup win at Val d’Isere, the fourth in GS. … He is now eighth on the all time U.S. win list having broken a tie with Cindy Nelson and Kristina Koznick.

It is the 31st career World Cup podium resulr for Aksel Lund Svindal. … his second of the season. … It is his eighth career GS podium and the second time he has finished 2nd in a Cup GS.

It is the 20th Cup podium for Massimiliano Blardone, all in GS. … His last podium came Feb. 28, 2009 at Kranjska Gora in a race Ligety also won.

It is the 24th career scoring race for Robbie Dixon. … his third in GS and first in GS since last December.

Svindal leads the World Cup overall standings 236-221 over Ligety. … Mario Scheiber (did not race) is third with 175 and Carlo Janka (6th in race) fourth with 174. … Ligety leads the GS standings 200-125 over Svindal. … Austria leads the Men’s Nations Cup 1088-754 over Switzerland. … France is third with 508. … The U.S. sixth with 311pts and Canada seventh with 231pts.