SOELDEN, Austria (Oct. 26) - Defending Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom champion Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) saw a growing lead evaporate with a mistake at the start of the challenging flats on the bottom of the course in Soelden to finish tenth. Ligety was locked in a battle with rival Marcel Hirscher of Austria, who took a .19 second lead over Ligety in the first run and went on to win by 1.58 seconds over Germany's Fritz Dopfer. The finish snapped a three-year win streak by Ligety at the season opener.
HIGHLIGHTS
- A single mistake at a critical point dropped Ted Ligety to tenth in the opening giant slalom of the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup in Soelden.
- Ligety in strong position: Ligety skied to second in the first run, .19 behind Austria's Marcel Hirscher. He was charging to the lead in the second with a .44 second edge on leader Fritz Dopfer of Germany when a mistake at the top of the flat bottom claimed over a second. Hirscher won by 1.58 seconds over Dopfer. Alexis Pintorault was third.
- After a strong first run standing tenth, Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV) finished 27th. Snowbird skiers Brennan Rubie (Salt Lake City) and Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT) didn't make it into the second run.
- The men's tour resumes in Levi, Finland Nov. 16 with a slalom. The team will return for training Colorado, with the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper set to open in early November.
QUOTES
Ted Ligety
I just made a huge mistake in the one place that you can’t make mistakes. I just lost my ski coming into the flats. If I would have lost it anywhere else it wouldn’t have cost me so much time. Mistakes happen.
I’m happy with where my skiing is, and I’m not like panicking or anything. It would have been really easy to get second place today, but I don’t think I could have won.
Sasha Rearick, Head Men's Coach
Soelden, first race, it’s always an interesting one to see where you are. Today it was clear that we’ve got speed, and that we have to clean up some things. Ted had two good runs, unfortunately it was a big bobble at the bottom. It sounds like he hit a pretty big rock and knocked off some edge, so once you do that you can’t get speed on the ski, and that’s critical for Ted’s style of skiing.
Another thing is, I was stoked to see (Tim) Jitloff ski with intensity on the second run. The first run he just skied down the hill, definitely nervous. Second run he brought the intensity, but he made a fundamental error. We’ve got to make sure we stick to our game plan.
We’re looking forward to going to Copper to refine our stuff and find that next gear and be on the top here soon.
RESULTS
