ALPINE SKIING, WORLD CUP. Once more Switzerland's Carlo Janka showed his class and determination in a very critical and tense situation winning the last giant slalom race of the season a day after his rather disappointing performance in Super-G which he ended in 11th place, far behind Austria's Benjain Raich 6th.

Carlo Janka of Switzerland races on his way to win an alpine ski, Men's World Cup giant slalom race, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Friday, March 12, 2010. Janka won the overall World Cup title and Ted Ligety of the United States secured the giant slalom title. Janka, the Olympic champion, won Friday's giant slalom to take an unassailable lead in overall standings with one race remaining.(AP Photo/Elvis Piazzi)

That sixth season World Cup win dramatically ended the great duel between both champions for the big Crystal globe that the Swiss unexpectedly clinched at only 23 a few weeks after his impressive Olympic triumph at Whistler Mountain and only a year after his strong gold medal triumph at the 2009 FIS World Championships at Val d'Isère.

Janka, who finished ahead of Italy's Davide Simoncelli while USA's Ted Ligety shares his 3rd place with Austria's Phil Schoerghofer, had to fight back with much ‘grinta' as his lead on Raich was reduced to 38 points after that speed event.

And this is exactly what this young man did with his usual coolness - clocking the fastest time in the first leg and staying out of reach of his closest rivals in the second one. As Raich only came in 8th, Janka increased his lead to an insurmountable 106 points - which will allow him to skip Saturday's slalom.

For once he showed more emotion than after other big wins! This time he didn't only left one arm or a finger to show his satisfaction but fell down on his back in the finish area to fully enjoy this incredible moment.

"Yes it was different this time, to win the big globe is pretty exciting and totally unexpected too, I have a hard time understanding what I just did," said Janka, the first Swiss to achieve such a performance since the victory of Paul Accola in 1992. He is only the fourth Swiss after Peter Luescher (1979), Pirmin Zurbriggem (four times in the 1990s) and Accola to win the Overall standings.

"It's comparable to the last 4-0 victory of Manchester United over Milan the other day," added the great football fan. "It's for sure incredible, especially when you think that I had to rest several months last summer because of a virus."

"It's a great way to end that great season. To win the Overall title is huge because you need to be so strong in all disciplines throughout the entire season. It's totally different than excelling at a medal event, you feel another kinds of pressure," also commented the Swiss who deserves more than ever to be called ‘Iceman' by his colleagues.

With six victories in three disciplines - three in downhill, two in giant slalom and one in Super-combined - and a podium finish in Super-G, Janka fully deserved to be considered the best allrounder of the season. His achieved his most impressive feat earlier this season winning three races in three different specialties in three consecutive days, a performance that only the great Jean Claude Killy accomplished during in unique 1967 season.

Interestingly enough, Janka has only be racing a couple of seasons on the World Cup tour. In February 2008 he skied for the first time among the top-10s in a Super-combined at Val d'Isère where he also enjoyed his very first triumph in December 2008 winning a giant slalom. Two month later, he was World Champion on the same treacherous ‘La Face' de Bellevarde course!

"He has been impressive, he is a great winner," admitted Raich afterwards. "I appreciate his technique but even more his remarkable coolness. He is very quiet - in life and on his skis. Today he showed once more his great qualities," also said the skier from Pitztal who finished for the fourth consecutive time in 2nd place. "I had a good season too, but I have not been as consistent as usual in the technical events. Yet I'm happy to be again on the podium in the Overall and the giant slalom standings. And my next goal is to ski a good race tomorrow in the slalom." Fortunately for him, Raich has captured the combined World Cup title this season.

This very last race is also the last chance for his teammate Reinfried Herbst to win a speciality World Cup title. Herbst, a four time winner this winter, has a strong lead on in nearest rivals as France's Julien Lizeroux or Croatia's Ivica Kostelic, but with some bad luck, he may also lose that title after failing to reach the podium at Vancouver last month

FISalpine.com
12 March 2010

Another World Cup title for Ted Ligety

America's Ted Ligety added another major trophy to his collection Friday as he captured the second FIS World Cup giant slalom title of his career with a solid third place in the season's final event. This later triumph places Ligety in some pretty illustrious company as he joins Phil Mahre to become the second American man to earn two World Cup giant slalom titles. Bode Miller also took that title once back in 2004.

Ted Ligety of the United States passes a gate during the first run of an alpine ski, Men's World Cup giant slalom, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Friday, March 12, 2010.(AP Photo/Elvis Piazzi)

"Having two globes is awesome," Ligety said. "It's cool to have those and to be the best in giant slalom over the last couple of years."

Ligety's discipline title is his second in three years, having won it already in 2008. The 2006 combined Olympic champion had a solid first run and, after falling slightly behind at the third interval, he picked up the pace in the second run to tie for third in the race with Austrian Philipp Schoerghofer.

"It's always better to tie someone than be one hundredth behind, so I was happy to be on the podium," Ligety joked. He knows what he is talking about! Two years ago he lost a giant slalom at Beaver Creek by only one hundredth to Austria's ski legend Benjamin Raich after having clearly dominated the first run.

With a somewhat narrow 43 point-lead on the giant slalom standings going into Friday's race, Ligety said things fell into place on game day for him to beat his toughest challengers for the title. "I knew I had to have a good first run and I was pretty lucky in the sense that Massimiliano Blardone had a big screw up and then Marcel Hirscher got disqualified," Ligety said. "That opened it up for me and I skied decently in the second run." Hirscher was DQed by the start referee because he opened the starting gate a few hundredths too early. At the end of the race, Ted clinched the title with a nice lead of 71 points.

While those advantages locked Ligety in the title run before his second run, the 2006 Olympic champ had no idea he had already won the globe when the time came for him to race. "I didn't actually know that I had won the title no matter what at that point," he explained. "I would have gone harder had I known that, but I had a safe second run and was still pretty excited to get on the podium again."

With that new crystal globe, Ligety added the 2010 discipline title to the first he won in 2008. He also capped the year with three consecutive World Cup podiums in giant slalom to bookend a season that began with a second place finish in Soelden, in Austria, last October. Despite his success in GS, Ligety was looking for more with his slalom, but has one more chance in slalom Saturday to end on a high note.

"I don't feel like the year has been great otherwise, so it's definitely nice to walk away with the discipline globe," Ligety said. "It's cool to be able to ski at this level for multiple years." Ligety noted that he hopes to compete on the same level again at the 2011 World Championships taking place on the same hill.

"The hill is actually pretty good. It's difficult on the top and then the bottom has a super long flat," he said. "It's a confidence booster to do well on the same hill you know you're going to have World Championships on."

Besides his strong results in giant slalom, Ted also reached an impressive 2nd place in super G in December at Val d'Isère, France. For the third consecutive year, he will end the season among the top-10s in the overall World Cup standings. He is now 7th prior the last slalom. Two years ago he finished fifth.

DH/MMJL
FISalpine.com
12 March 2010

Carlo Janka of Switzerland reacts after winning an alpine ski, Men's World Cup giant slalom, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Friday, March 12, 2010. Janka won the overall World Cup title and Ted Ligety of the United States secured the giant slalom title. Janka, the Olympic champion, won Friday's giant slalom to take an unassailable lead in overall standings with one race remaining.(AP Photo/Armando Trovati)

Ted Ligety of the United States powers past a gate during an alpine ski, Men's World Cup giant slalom race, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Friday, March 12, 2010. Switzerland's Carlo Janka won the overall World Cup title and Ted Ligety of the United States secured the giant slalom title.(AP Photo/Elvis Piazzi)

Ted Ligety of the United States shows the trophy of the alpine ski, Men's World Cup giant slalom discipline title, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Friday, March 12, 2010.(AP Photo/Armando Trovati)

Ted Ligety of the United States, left, shows the trophy of the alpine ski, Men's World Cup giant slalom discipline title, flanked by U.S. Lindsey Vonn, holding the trophy of the alpine ski, Women's super-G discipline title, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Friday, March 12, 2010.(AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)