Ligety makes history in gold medal defense on home soil

By Published On: February 13th, 2015Comments Off on Ligety makes history in gold medal defense on home soil

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – Trailing Marcel Hirscher by a quarter-second after the first run, Ted Ligety tapped into his best stuff to become the first man to win three giant slalom gold medals at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Beaver Creek. His second run was a textbook Ligety: high, clean, sweeping turns, building momentum down the Birds or Prey course on which the American has previously won four times.

“It’s an arcer’s hill,” said Ligety. “You have to be clean on the edge the whole way down. I love racing in the U.S. It’s one of the real anomalies for us to be able to race here in the United States. We’re always in Europe, so just having that extra comfort level of being closer to home and having friends and family support here is huge.”

Sitting in fifth after a tight first run, Ligety kicked out 26th when some of the best GS skiers in the world  — Hirscher, Alexis Pinturault and Felix Neureuther —  were yet to ski. However, both the home crowd and Ligety himself knew his performance would be tough to beat, but Hirscher made things interesting, hanging on to the “green light” through all four splits. For the Austrian, who’s already won a gold medal at these World Championships, several mistakes and a low line seemed to take their toll on that final split over the Red Tail Jump — and Ligety ultimately finished with a 0.45-second margin of victory.

Hirscher was able to retain the silver medal ahead of Alexis Pinturault who snagged the bronze, his first career World Championships medal.

The win seemed to evoke extra emotion from Ligety, who has raced short of his best season thus far. Ligety hasn’t won a race since Beaver Creek on Dec. 7 and trails Hirscher in the GS standings by a potentially insurmountable 138 points.

“It’s really hard to rank (my wins),” said Ligety. “But I think this one is maybe a little more emotional than some of the other ones just because this year has been a little bit more of a struggle. In 2013, I was winning everything. And so it felt like, not a given, but that I should be winning it really easily. Same with the Olympics, I was skiing great before that, and knew I should be able to win (that) one. And this one was a bigger question mark as far as how I was skiing and how I could handle it. To be able to come through and pull it off is awesome.”

The gold medal couldn’t have come at a better time for the U.S. Team that had yet to ascend to the top spot on the podium at these home World Championships, their first in 15 years. There have been some high points for the team, specifically a silver medal in the downhill for Travis Ganong, but the much-need gold now hopefully relieves some of the pressure from hometown kid Mikaela Shiffrin who is the favorite in Saturday’s slalom.

“It was definitely really nerve-wracking, watching all those guys come down,” said Ligety, who’s second run was fastest of the field. “Coming down with 1.2 (second advantage), you’re still not sure if that’s enough because those guys are also fast. Marcel’s been amazingly strong this year in giant slalom. So to watch him come down, he made even a little bit of time on me in the top, and then just kept losing a little bit here and there, to still see him a couple hundredths ahead of me on the last split, he’s the kind of guy that can make up time anywhere. It’s not guaranteed even if you’re there bleeding time. So a huge relief to see the red light when he came down.”

Hirscher, kicking out 30th in the second run, had plenty of time to receive the news of Ligety’s run — likely first by the roar of the crowd and then by radio. Knowing that, Hirscher knew he had to ski all out.

“For me, it was really important to know that Ted had an outstanding run, so it was definitely easier for me to make a decision in the starting house,” Hirscher said. “I talked to myself and I thought, two chances: No medal, or go for it 100 percent.”

Hirscher’s silver simply adds to the medal count for the Austrians at these World Championships — they’ve tallied nine, to be exact, and are in the running for a couple more.

“I can’t even ski one-hundredths of a second faster, so I’ve done my best. It is silver medal, so I’m super happy with the third medal already in this championship,” said Hirscher, who is among the favorites in Sunday’s slalom.

Meanwhile, Pinturault put together two competitive runs — third and fourth fastest — to overcome illness earlier this week and secure the bronze behind two racers who are tough to beat.

“Two days ago, for me, I was completely sick,” Pinturault said. “I was in my bed, I (had) a temperature, and I was just thinking to be at the start today. Finally, I tried to really attack and don’t think about I’m not in really good shape. Thankfully I’m on the podium, so that’s a good day finally. … It was really tough because here it’s always really long and it’s really high. And you know, it’s World Championships, so you always try to push harder.”

On a day that all five American starters made the second run flip, Tim Jitloff was the second leading man finishing the day ninth after laying down the seventh fastest first run. Running near the back of the top 30, Jitloff held an advantage over then-leader Victor Muffat-Jeandet, but scrubbed speed through the final turns over Red Tail Jump to lose that lead.

“I definitely wanted a little more out of that second run,” said Jitloff. “I tried to be as clean as possible because I knew as the later guys kept coming, it warms up more and more and slows down down here on the bottom. Unfortunately, I just had a few little things that slowed be down and I couldn’t come through with the green light today.”

The U.S. was also represented by Tommy Ford skiing to his best result at the elite level since recently returning from injury, in 19th; Brennan Rubie, 26th; and David Chodounsky, 29th.

See more photos from this race here.

 

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

  1. Ligety, Head/Head/Head
  2. Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  3. Pinturault, Head/Head/Head
  4. Neureuther, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
  5. Olsson, Head/Head/Head
  6. Nani, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
  7. Muffat-Jeandet, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
  8. Eisath, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
  9. Jitloff, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
  10. Schoerghofer, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Men’s World Championship giant slalom, Beaver Creek, Colo., Feb. 13, 2015:

  • It is the ninth of 11 events on the schedule of the 2015 World Ski Championships with just the slaloms remaining. … It is the 50th World Championship GS. … Ted Ligety is the defending champion and has won gold at the last two World Championships (Garmisch 2011 & Schladming 2013) and the 2014 Olympics (Sochi). … Marcel Hirscher leads the GS standings of this season’s World Cup. Temperatures in mid 40s.
  • It is the seventh career World Championship medal for Ted Ligety, a U.S. record. … It is his fifth championship gold medal and third straight in GS. … He also won the 2014 GS gold at the Olympics. … It is his second medal of the 2015 title meet having earned bronze in alpine combined. … The winning margin is .45. … Top three skiers are within the same second. … Top nine within two seconds.
  • It is the fourth World Championship medal in five completed races for Marcel Hirscher and the second straight time he has finished second to Ligety in GS. … It is his second medal of these championships having won gold in combined.
  • It is the first career World Championship medal for Alexis Pinturault. … He had been fifth in GS at Schladming (2013) and was also fifth in combined five days previously.
  • It is a personal best World Championship result for Tim Jitloff, his previous best having been 14th in combined at Garmisch in 2011. … It is the second career World Championship finish for Dustin Cook after a silver medal in the super G Feb. 5. … It is the second career World Championship result and a career best for Trevor Philip. … He was also 35th in slalom at Shladming 2013. … It is the second World Championship result for Tommy Ford, he was previously 14th in super G at Garmisch 2011. … It is the second World Championship result for Phil Brown, and a career best, his previous finish a 35th in GS at Schladming 2013. … It is the first career World championship result for Brennan Rubie, the first for Erik Read, and the first for David Chodounsky.
  • Medal count: Austria five gold, three silver, one bronze; Slovenia two gold, one silver; U.S. one gold, one silver, two bronze;  Switzerland one gold, two bronze; Canada two silver; Sweden two bronze; Norway one silver; Germany one silver, France one bronze.

 

Results

 1  6  534562 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA  1:15.42  1:18.74  2:34.16  0.00
 2  3  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT  1:15.18  1:19.43  2:34.61  +0.45  2.86
 3  2  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA  1:15.41  1:19.63  2:35.04  +0.88  5.59
 4  7  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix 1984 GER  1:15.41  1:19.85  2:35.26  +1.10  6.99
 5  17  501324 OLSSON Matts 1988 SWE  1:15.66  1:19.73  2:35.39  +1.23  7.82
 6  12  294890 NANI Roberto 1988 ITA  1:15.36  1:20.21  2:35.57  +1.41  8.96
 7  8  193967 MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor 1989 FRA  1:16.00  1:19.71  2:35.71  +1.55  9.85
 8  21  292967 EISATH Florian 1984 ITA  1:16.64  1:19.29  2:35.93  +1.77  11.25
 9  9  534959 JITLOFF Tim 1985 USA  1:15.79  1:20.25  2:36.04  +1.88  11.95
 10  19  51007 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp 1983 AUT  1:15.85  1:20.43  2:36.28  +2.12  13.48
 11  15  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI  1:16.36  1:20.03  2:36.39  +2.23  14.18
 12  29  100558 COOK Dustin 1989 CAN  1:16.60  1:19.82  2:36.42  +2.26  14.37
 13  14  422304 KRISTOFFERSEN Henrik 1994 NOR  1:15.98  1:20.61  2:36.59  +2.43  15.45
 14  10  180534 SANDELL Marcus 1987 FIN  1:16.18  1:20.71  2:36.89  +2.73  17.35
 15  5  202462 DOPFER Fritz 1987 GER  1:16.59  1:20.42  2:37.01  +2.85  18.12
 16  25  380335 ZUBCIC Filip 1993 CRO  1:16.34  1:20.68  2:37.02  +2.86  18.18
 17  18  292120 SIMONCELLI Davide 1979 ITA  1:16.32  1:20.73  2:37.05  +2.89  18.37
 18  38  103865 PHILP Trevor 1992 CAN  1:17.62  1:19.79  2:37.41  +3.25  20.66
 19  34  531799 FORD Tommy 1989 USA  1:17.41  1:20.21  2:37.62  +3.46  22.00
 20  16  202437 LUITZ Stefan 1992 GER  1:16.42  1:21.41  2:37.83  +3.67  23.33
 21  26  180666 TORSTI Samu 1991 FIN  1:17.40  1:20.49  2:37.89  +3.73  23.71
 22  31  103676 BROWN Phil 1991 CAN  1:17.71  1:20.28  2:37.99  +3.83  24.35
 23  36  150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE  1:17.50  1:20.51  2:38.01  +3.85  24.47
 24  23  990048 BORSOTTI Giovanni 1990 ITA  1:17.54  1:20.81  2:38.35  +4.19  26.64
 25  22  511852 CAVIEZEL Gino 1992 SUI  1:17.20  1:21.21  2:38.41  +4.25  27.02
 26  33  934568 RUBIE Brennan 1991 USA  1:17.48  1:20.99  2:38.47  +4.31  27.40
 27  27  511741 ZURBRIGGEN Elia 1990 SUI  1:17.53  1:21.12  2:38.65  +4.49  28.54
 28  44  103729 READ Erik 1991 CAN  1:18.26  1:20.47  2:38.73  +4.57  29.05
 29  40  534508 CHODOUNSKY David 1984 USA  1:17.86  1:21.04  2:38.90  +4.74  30.13
 30  28  511896 MURISIER Justin 1992 SUI  1:18.11  1:20.84  2:38.95  +4.79  30.45
 31  35  422278 WINDINGSTAD Rasmus 1993 NOR  1:18.37  1:20.62  2:38.99  +4.83  30.70
 32  47  700879 ZAMPA Andreas 1993 SVK  1:19.45  1:22.01  2:41.46  +7.30  46.41
 33  51  561217 KOSI Klemen 1991 SLO  1:19.64  1:22.11  2:41.75  +7.59  48.25
 34  48  221213 RAPOSO Charlie 1996 GBR  1:19.04  1:22.97  2:42.01  +7.85  49.90
 35  59  92562 PRISADOV Stefan 1990 BUL  1:19.93  1:22.67  2:42.60  +8.44  53.65
 36  56  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier 1980 ARG  1:19.43  1:23.53  2:42.96  +8.80  55.94
 37  50  550054 ZVEJNIEKS Kristaps 1992 LAT  1:20.30  1:23.07  2:43.37  +9.21  58.55
 38  54  221117 GOWER Jack 1994 GBR  1:19.73  1:23.74  2:43.47  +9.31  59.18
 39  63  410365 BARWOOD Adam 1992 NZL  1:20.48  1:23.46  2:43.94  +9.78  62.17
 40  64  320266 JUNG Dong-hyun 1988 KOR  1:20.67  1:23.79  2:44.46  +10.30  65.48
 41  68  60253 MARCHANT Armand 1997 BEL  1:20.71  1:24.41  2:45.12  +10.96  69.67
 42  71  380363 KOLEGA Elias 1996 CRO  1:20.85  1:24.82  2:45.67  +11.51  73.17
 43  69  320290 KIM Hyeon-tae 1990 KOR  1:21.58  1:25.30  2:46.88  +12.72  80.86
 44  70  680047 BENIAIDZE Alex 1991 GEO  1:22.17  1:25.60  2:47.77  +13.61  86.52
 45  78  380374 VUKELIC William 1998 CRO  1:22.78  1:25.20  2:47.98  +13.82  87.85
 46  84  710320 LAIKERT Igor 1991 BIH  1:22.31  1:26.32  2:48.63  +14.47  91.99
 47  76  460060 BARBU Alexandru 1987 ROU  1:22.46  1:27.03  2:49.49  +15.33  97.45
 48  74  250348 KRISTGEIRSSON Einar Kristinn 1994 ISL  1:23.07  1:26.53  2:49.60  +15.44  98.15
 49  72  110269 CARVALLO Nicolas 1991 CHI  1:23.31  1:26.83  2:50.14  +15.98  101.59
 50  57  320293 KYUNG Sung-hyun 1990 KOR  1:24.00  1:26.88  2:50.88  +16.72  106.29
 51  79  60088 VAN DEN BOGAERT Jeroen 1979 BEL  1:24.00  1:27.85  2:51.85  +17.69  112.46
 52  86  670037 ZAKURDAEV Igor 1987 KAZ  1:24.14  1:29.61  2:53.75  +19.59  124.53
Did not qualify for 2nd run
 53  77  240132 FARKAS Norbert 1992 HUN  1:26.11  1:26.11
 54  85  80077 MACEDO Michel 1998 BRA  1:26.25  1:26.25
 55  96  690694 KOVBASNYUK Ivan 1993 UKR  1:26.27  1:26.27
 56  80  750089 DEHARI Dardan 1990 MKD  1:26.30  1:26.30
 57  82  800013 TOLA Erjon 1986 ALB  1:26.57  1:26.57
 58  91  270047 MC MILLAN Patrick 1991 IRE  1:26.87  1:26.87
 59  83  170151 DYRBYE NAESTED Casper 1996 DAN  1:27.16  1:27.16
 60  99  210040 TUKHTAEV Kamiljon 1997 UZB  1:27.85  1:27.85
 61  89  770015 TIMOFEEV Evgeniy 1994 KGZ  1:27.90  1:27.90
 62  98  280034 BIRAN Itamar 1998 ISR  1:28.31  1:28.31
 62  94  340305 MOHBAT Alexandre 1995 LIB  1:28.31  1:28.31
 64  92  310412 HADZIC Tarik 1994 MNE  1:29.80  1:29.80
 65  88  780013 ZAVECKAS Rokas 1996 LTU  1:30.00  1:30.00
 66  93  360036 OSCH Geoffrey 1994 LUX  1:30.78  1:30.78
 67  95  950000 OETTL REYES Manfred 1993 PER  1:31.96  1:31.96
 68  100  160099 PIERI Pieris 1996 CYP  1:38.40  1:38.40
 69  87  120061 ZHANG Xiaosong 1997 CHN  1:40.44  1:40.44
 70  97  620059 THAKUR Himanshu 1994 IND  1:42.45  1:42.45
Did not qualify for final race
 71  26  680053 GELASHVILI Jaba 1993 GEO  1:01.51  1:00.06  2:01.57
 72  33  320296 PARK hyuk 1990 KOR  1:02.39  59.58  2:01.97
 73  35  680060 KOZANASHVILI Nikoloz 1995 GEO  1:02.14  1:00.25  2:02.39
 74  21  110328 PFINGSTHORN Sebastian 1994 CHI  1:02.61  1:00.00  2:02.61
 75  27  30388 BIRKNER DE MIGUEL Tomas 1997 ARG  1:03.09  1:00.30  2:03.39
 76  38  250323 FINNSSON Magnus 1993 ISL  1:02.58  1:00.99  2:03.57
 77  40  750088 RISTEVSKI Antonio 1989 MKD  1:03.22  1:00.66  2:03.88
 78  77  710362 LOKMIC Emir 1997 BIH  1:03.59  1:00.74  2:04.33
 79  58  710311 RUDIC Marko 1990 BIH  1:03.83  1:01.22  2:05.05
 80  30  550061 ONSKULIS Martins 1994 LAT  1:03.68  1:01.45  2:05.13
 81  53  230651 ANTONIOU Ioannis 1995 GRE  1:03.55  1:02.04  2:05.59
 82  45  310415 STANISIC Strahinja 1995 SRB  1:04.10  1:01.68  2:05.78
 83  55  550022 RODE Roberts 1987 LAT  1:04.89  1:01.71  2:06.60
 84  83  240148 SZOLLOS Barnabas 1998 HUN  1:04.30  1:02.34  2:06.64
 85  61  750107 BOZHINOVSKI Luka 1998 MKD  1:05.46  1:02.46  2:07.92
 86  64  240145 BENEDEK Patrik 1997 HUN  1:06.04  1:02.08  2:08.12
 87  52  230667 PROIOS Ioannis 1995 GRE  1:06.03  1:02.69  2:08.72
 88  92  750106 NASHOKU Marjan 1995 MKD  1:06.33  1:03.95  2:10.28
 89  85  270064 ARBEZ Maxime 1996 IRE  1:06.88  1:04.09  2:10.97
 90  98  450030 MARIOTTI Alessandro 1998 RSM  1:07.41  1:03.79  2:11.20
 91  90  340230 FENIANOS Naim 1992 LIB  1:07.52  1:04.37  2:11.89
 92  69  550071 FOGELIS Daniels 1994 LAT  1:07.92  1:04.47  2:12.39
 93  80  170152 JONSTRUP Jeppe 1996 DAN  1:07.68  1:05.29  2:12.97
 94  84  80072 MACEDO Tobias 1996 BRA  1:08.17  1:05.84  2:14.01
 95  54  120037 TIAN Yuheng 1985 CHN  1:07.48  1:06.89  2:14.37
 96  95  740030 GHAZARYAN Arsen 1992 ARM  1:09.07  1:06.89  2:15.96
 97  81  340154 FENIANOS Tarek 1990 LIB  1:12.34  1:07.60  2:19.94
 98  97  210024 BABIKOV Dmitriy 1990 UZB  1:11.92  1:08.76  2:20.68
 99  108  770012 BORISOV Ivan 1979 KGZ  1:10.95  1:10.08  2:21.03
 100  86  960300 GOUTT Yohan Goncalves 1994 TLS  1:12.81  1:09.59  2:22.40
 101  104  620046 KHAN Arif Mohd 1990 IND  1:16.08  1:11.13  2:27.21
 102  96  540001 VON HOHENLOHE Hubertus 1959 MEX  1:14.25  1:12.99  2:27.24
 103  74  620035 LAL Hira 1980 IND  1:16.54  1:13.86  2:30.40
 104  87  740028 MANUKYAN Yura 1991 ARM  1:16.61  1:15.39  2:32.00
 105  107  770018 GORDEEV Maksim 1995 KGZ  1:23.90  1:22.97  2:46.87
 106  106  130034 WU Meng-che 1995 TPE  1:27.24  1:25.93  2:53.17
 107  109  921000 ROY Jean-Pierre 1963 HAI  1:33.13  1:28.90  3:02.03
 108  110  840003 WILLIAMS Michael Elliott 1969 JAM  1:53.82  1:48.11  3:41.93
Did not start 2nd run
 43  202451 STRASSER Linus 1992 GER
Did not start 1st run
 62  958402 TRAVERS Dean 1996 CAY
Did not finish 2nd run
 75  230659 VALCAREGGI Massimiliano 1995 GRE
 66  110324 VON APPEN Henrik 1994 CHI
 58  40553 CHEVALIER Luc Henri 1992 AUS
 55  150495 VRABLIK Martin 1982 CZE
 52  40594 PERAUDO Ross 1992 AUS
 45  400237 MEINERS Maarten 1992 NED
 32  501458 LINDH Calle 1990 SWE
Did not finish 1st run
 90  450026 MICHELOTTI Vincenzo Romano 1996 RSM
 81  310410 VUKOVIC Andrija 1994 SRB
 73  430429 BYDLINSKI Maciej 1988 POL
 67  92720 POPOV Albert 1997 BUL
 65  390035 SMITH Warren Cummings 1992 EST
 61  410364 FEASEY Willis 1992 NZL
 60  40489 LAIDLAW Luke 1992 AUS
 53  410372 PREBBLE Nick 1993 NZL
 49  180705 PIRINEN Eemeli 1993 FIN
 46  40523 DEMSCHAR Dominic 1993 AUS
 42  380318 BRIGOVIC Sebastian 1992 CRO
 41  481327 TRIKHICHEV Pavel 1992 RUS
 39  481103 ANDRIENKO Aleksander 1990 RUS
 37  700830 ZAMPA Adam 1990 SVK
 30  561244 KRANJEC Zan 1992 SLO
 24  501017 MYHRER Andre 1983 SWE
 20  51159 NOESIG Christoph 1985 AUT
 13  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian 1987 NOR
 11  194495 FAIVRE Mathieu 1992 FRA
 4  191750 FANARA Thomas 1981 FRA
 1  50625 RAICH Benjamin 1978 AUT
Disqualified 2nd run in qualification race
 103  570012 HEATH Alexander 1978 RSA
Disqualified 1st run in qualification race
 100  210030 JUNUSOV Anvar 1991 UZB
 50  710353 SLJIVIC Marko 1996 BIH
Did not start 2nd run in qualification race
 76  160097 LEFKARITIS Dinos 1995 CYP
Did not start 1st run in qualification race
 99  310407 PESIC Mladen 1994 SRB
 93  740021 VARDANYAN Kajik 1986 ARM
 89  170155 SIMONSEN Lasse Kamp 1993 DAN
 48  230147 SYKARAS Konstantinos 1984 GRE
 44  670052 KHUBER Martin 1992 KAZ
Did not finish 2nd run in qualification race
 94  310388 KOSIC Bojan 1990 MNE
 91  340040 MEHANNA Jamil 1978 LIB
 82  240149 NAGY Bence 1998 HUN
 62  690086 FESHCHUK Rostyslav 1990 UKR
 43  120054 ZHOU Dongjun 1989 CHN
Did not finish 1st run in qualification race
 105  210020 EGEMBERDIEV Safar 1986 UZB
 101  310429 PAVLOVIC Sava 1997 SRB
 88  450025 BIZZOCCHI Lorenzo 1993 RSM
 75  770017 TRELEVSKII Sergei 1989 KGZ
 63  690722 MYTSAK Dmytro 1995 UKR
 51  270055 LYNE Conor 1993 IRE
 16  30266 GASTALDI Sebastiano 1991 ARG
 11  110320 CLARO Eugenio 1993 CHI

 

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About the Author: Geoff Mintz

Geoff Mintz is a former alpine ski racer who cut his teeth at Ragged Mountain and Waterville Valley, N.H. After graduating from Holderness and UVM, he relocated to Colorado, where he worked on the hill prior to pursuing a career in journalism. Mintz served as associate editor for Ski Racing Media from 2011 to 2015. He later reconnected with his local roots to manage all marketing and communications for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail before resuming work at SRM as editor-in-chief.