Bormio: Ligety wins race, globe; Miller overall champ
BORMIO, Italy — In the last giant slalom of the World Cup season, Ted Ligety of the U.S. needed a good second run to keep pace with Benjamin Raich and win the GS title. Instead, he had a phenomenal second run, the fastest by 0.24 seconds and 0.60 quicker than Raich, to win the race and his first World Cup globe.
American Bode Miller, who had been leading after the first run, officially clinched the overall World Cup when his closest rival, Didier Cuche of Switzerland, failed to win the GS. Cuche gave it a good shot, finishing fifth. Miller skied off the course in the second run, but still claimed his second World Cup overall title; his first came in 2005.
Ligety won the race, under cloudy skies and on extremely soft snow — “spring conditions,” Ligety said of the Stelvio course — in a time of 2:18.04, to 2:18.35 for the runner-up, Raich, and 2:18.72 for third-place finisher Cyprien Richard of France.
BORMIO, Italy — In the last giant slalom of the World Cup season, Ted Ligety of the U.S. needed a good second run to keep pace with Benjamin Raich and win the GS title. Instead, he had a phenomenal second run, the fastest by more 0.24 seconds and 0.60 quicker than Raich, to win the race and his first World Cup globe.
American Bode Miller, who had been leading after the first run, officially clinched the overall World Cup when his closest rival, Didier Cuche of Switzerland, failed to win the GS. Cuche gave it a good shot, finishing fifth. Miller skied off the course in the second run, but still claimed his second World Cup overall title; his first came in 2005.
Ligety won the race, under cloudy skies and on extremely soft snow — “spring conditions,” Ligety said of the Stelvio course — in a time of 2:18.04, to 2:18.35 for the runner-up, Raich, and 2:18.72 for third-place finisher Cyprien Richard of France.
After what he called a mediocre first run, Ligety turned it up a notch in the second. He scorched the difficult middle portion of the course, and outdistanced the leader at the time, Cyprien Richard, by 0.68 seconds. And no one else would come close.
Ligety said he’d tried to be too tactical in the first run, “but I put the hammer down in the second. The middle section, I was really charging and took some risks, but it worked out.”
The new World Cup giant slalom champion said that his Olympic gold medal paled in comparison. “It’s so hard to win a discipline title,” he said.
Does he have thoughts about competing in the overall? He said that you really needed to be strong in three or four events to be in the overall hunt. Joking that success in the speed events was probably “about 20 kilos down the road,” Ligety said that he really needed to work harder on his slalom. “Slalom is the event that got me to this point. It’s still more important to me than the speed events.”
Ligety said that it was great to have his parents here to see him clinch the title. “It’s awesome they came over. They’ve been there for all of my big wins, except Korea. … I seem to do well when they’re here.”
Asked about what it meant to see U.S. skiers doing so well, he said that it had been “super cool to watch Lindsey (Vonn), the downhill and overall champion, and to watch Bode come through in the second half of the season, after everyone was counting him out.”
For his part, Ligety's coach enjoyed what he watched on Friday. “That was just a great race," said Phil McNichol, head men’s coach for the U.S. Ski Team. "No BS, nothing affected the outcome of the 2008 GS title. He had to fight to the last run, and it was an awesome run. He kicked ass in that second run. Ted is pretty good in the second run in general. He's evolving all the time in handling pressure. In ski racing, at the end of the day, it's so hard to get it right that it drives you insane. To see a guy actually get the job done, that's the mark of a true champion. This is the start."
— Hank McKee contributed to this report.
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men's Giant Slalom, Bormio, Italy, March 14, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Richard, Rossignol//Rossignol
4 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
6 Simoncelli, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7 Reichelt, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
8 Sandell, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
<!–[endif]–>
Men's Giant Salom, Bormio, Italy, March 14, 2008.<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–><!–[endif]–> … It is the 39th race of 40 on the men's Wor;d Cup schedule. … the original schedule of 41 was pared by one cancellation. … It is the eighth and final GS.
It is the third career World Cup win for Ted Ligety. … The second of the season and the second in consecutive GS's. … It is the 188th U.S. World Cup win and the 15th for the season. … He finished in the top five in seven of the eight GS's this season including four podiums. … He joins Phil Mahre and Bode Miller as the only U.S. men to have won a GS title.
It is the 74th career World Cup podium for Benjamin Raich. … His 26th in GS. … It is his seventh podium of the season and third in GS.
It is the first career World Cup podium for Cyprien Richard and just his second top 10 result. … All seven of his career scoring finishes have come this season.
It is a career best World Cup GS result for Erik Guay, his previous best having come from the 2007 finals at Lenzerheide when he was 16th.
Bode Miller, despite not finishing, officially wins the overall title. … With a slalom remaining to be contested he leads 1409-1263 over Didier Cuche (5th in race) and cannot be overtaken. . … Benjamin Raich is third at 1253 and Ligety holds fourth overall at 898. … Miller is the second American male to win the overall title after Phil Mahre who won it three times. … Miller previously won the overall title in 2005… Ligety wins the GS title 485-438 over Raich. … He becomes the fifth American to claim a World Cup GS title, the first since Miller in 2004. … His title gives the U.S. five for the season, one better than the 1983 high water mark.
| Rank | Bib | FIS Code |
Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 3 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 1:08.63 | 1:09.41 | 2:18.04 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 5 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 1:08.34 | 1:10.01 | 2:18.35 | 1.98 |
| 3 | 21 | 191423 | RICHARD Cyprien | 1979 | FRA | 1:08.79 | 1:09.93 | 2:18.72 | 4.33 |
| 4 | 20 | 192665 | GRANGE Jean-Baptiste | 1984 | FRA | 1:08.45 | 1:10.33 | 2:18.78 | 4.72 |
| 5 | 4 | 510030 | CUCHE Didier | 1974 | SUI | 1:08.74 | 1:10.18 | 2:18.92 | 5.61 |
| 6 | 14 | 292120 | SIMONCELLI Davide | 1979 | ITA | 1:08.85 | 1:10.30 | 2:19.15 | 7.08 |
| 7 | 9 | 50742 | REICHELT Hannes | 1980 | AUT | 1:08.61 | 1:10.56 | 2:19.17 | 7.20 |
| 8 | 11 | 180534 | SANDELL Marcus | 1987 | FIN | 1:09.55 | 1:09.65 | 2:19.20 | 7.39 |
| 9 | 7 | 292491 | MOELGG Manfred | 1982 | ITA | 1:08.79 | 1:10.45 | 2:19.24 | 7.65 |
| 10 | 17 | 50547 | SCHOENFELDER Rainer | 1977 | AUT | 1:09.03 | 1:10.25 | 2:19.28 | 7.90 |
| 10 | 16 | 510727 | DEFAGO Didier | 1977 | SUI | 1:09.18 | 1:10.10 | 2:19.28 | 7.90 |
| 12 | 25 | 190677 | CHENAL Joel | 1973 | FRA | 1:09.32 | 1:10.02 | 2:19.34 | 8.29 |
| 13 | 1 | 510997 | 1983 | SUI | 1:09.13 | 1:10.39 | 2:19.52 | 9.43 | |
| 14 | 26 | 102263 | GUAY Erik | 1981 | CAN | 1:09.15 | 1:10.44 | 2:19.59 | 9.88 |
| 15 | 8 | 50451 | GRUBER Christoph | 1976 | AUT | 1:09.72 | 1:10.13 | 2:19.85 | 11.54 |
| 16 | 27 | 350032 | BUECHEL Marco | 1971 | LIE | 1:09.60 | 1:10.35 | 2:19.95 | 12.18 |
| 17 | 29 | 191459 | LIZEROUX Julien | 1979 | FRA | 1:09.76 | 1:10.23 | 2:19.99 | 12.43 |
| 17 | 18 | 50423 | MAIER Hermann | 1972 | AUT | 1:08.56 | 1:11.43 | 2:19.99 | 12.43 |
| 19 | 28 | 50041 | WALCHHOFER Michael | 1975 | AUT | 1:08.84 | 1:11.16 | 2:20.00 | 12.49 |
| 20 | 22 | 102814 | BOURQUE Francois | 1984 | CAN | 1:09.04 | 1:11.01 | 2:20.05 | 12.81 |
| 21 | 31 | 53831 | HIRSCHER Marcel | 1989 | AUT | 1:09.93 | 1:10.41 | 2:20.34 | 14.66 |
| 22 | 6 | 510993 | ALBRECHT Daniel | 1983 | SUI | 1:10.50 | 1:09.85 | 2:20.35 | 14.73 |
| 23 | 10 | 50600 | GOERGL Stephan | 1978 | AUT | 1:09.12 | 1:11.42 | 2:20.54 | 15.94 |
| 24 | 30 | 560332 | JERMAN Andrej | 1978 | SLO | 1:10.64 | 1:10.35 | 2:20.99 | 18.81 |
| 25 | 2 | 292000 | BLARDONE Massimiliano | 1979 | ITA | 1:08.42 | 1:13.40 | 2:21.82 | 24.10 |
 |
| Official timekeeper |
Did not finish 1st run : LARSSON Markus (SWE), KOSTELIC Ivica (CRO), MATT Mario (AUT), KUCERA John (CAN)
Did not finish 2nd run : GORZA Ales (SLO), MILLER Bode (USA)
About the Author: Pete Rugh
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