Ted Ligety Wins Giant Slalom, First World Ski Title for American Team
Gold medal winner Ted Ligety
Gold medal winner Ted Ligety poses after the men's Alpine skiing Championship Giant Slalom event in Garmisch Partenkirchen, southern Germany. Photograpger: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
Gold medal winner Ted Ligety poses after the men's Alpine skiing Championship Giant Slalom event in Garmisch Partenkirchen, southern Germany. Photograpger: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
Ted Ligety won the giant slalom and clinched the first gold medal for the U.S. at the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Ligety was the fastest over two runs, with a total time of 2 minutes, 10.56 seconds on the Kandahar course in Bavaria, southern Germany. France’s Cyprien Richard took silver, 0.08 seconds behind, while Austria’s Philipp Schoerghofer won bronze, 0.43 seconds back from the American.
Ligety, the giant slalom leader in the World Cup, had been in fourth position after the first leg of the race on a course that was shortened because of fog. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, the fastest skier after the first leg, finished in fourth position. Svindal had won a gold medal on the super-combined race last week.
Ligety, the 2006 combined Olympic champion in Turin, won a bronze in the giant slalom at the 2009 world championships in Val d’Isere, France. The 26-year-old won his first world title after he failed to finish last week’s super-G and super-combined races in Garmisch.
Defending giant slalom Olympic and world champion Carlo Janka ended in seventh place after he nearly fell on the steep section of the second leg. The Swiss will have heart surgery at the end of the season for an irregular heartbeat.
Ligety’s teammate Bode Miller, the 2003 giant slalom world champion, finished in 12th place after the reigning Olympic super-combined champion made a mistake in the first run.
To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Rossingh in London at drossingh@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net
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