ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. VAL D’ISERE, France – Ted Ligety’s legs are on fire. Not just because he spent the day charging down Val d’Isere’s notoriously steep and technical Bellevarde slope but because in less than a week he has destroyed the field in two World Cup giant slalom races.

Ted Ligety of the United States speeds down the course on his way to set the fastest time during the first run of an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom race, in Val D'Isere, France, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Armando Trovati)

The American reigning World Cup GS champion handily won his second straight FIS Audi World Cup race on Saturday in Val d’Isere. Much like last Sunday’s victory in Beaver Creek, Ligety led the first run on the French slope, beating most of the field by well over a second, then beat his closest competitor by more than a second to win the race.

Ligety gunned down The Bellevarde in a combined time of 2 minutes, 26.26 seconds as Aksel Lund Svindal was the next in line for second place, 1.05 seconds back, followed by Italian GS specialist Massimiliano Blardone, 1.21 seconds back.

“This is one of the hardest races I’ve had in a long time,” Ligety said immediately following the race while trying to catch his breath. “To come here to this hill and win and have such a lead is awesome. But I’m absolutely cooked right now.”

When asked what the secret is to leaving the rest of the field in the dust both at Val d’Isere and Beaver Creek, Ligety attributed his big leads to good luck … and flawless skiing.

“I think it’s more luck than anything,” he said. “I had almost no mistakes at all – two near perfect runs at Beaver Creek then today I skied pretty clean. I don’t think I had any mistakes. So, it’s more a product of other guys making mistakes. When you have such clean runs it turns into big leads.”

Blardone said Ligety’s carving style is well-suited to technical hills like the Bellevarde and Svindal – who had a big mistake in the first run but recovered to finish just two tenths behind Ligety – agreed that Ligety has been in his own league the last couple of races.

“I don’t think that Ted’s going to win every race by a second,” Svindal joked. “He has been very clean, no mistakes, at least from what I can see. It’s hard to pull off runs without mistakes when you’re really pushing the pedal. I’m impressed, actually … very impressed. But I don’t think that he’s unbeatable. I like to think that we can at least have one race.”

Other racers would disagree. Benjamin Raich, who said his back was feeling OK on Saturday, finished fifth behind fourth-place Carlo Janka. Although Raich was just over three-tenths of a second away from the podium he was well over a second and a half behind Ligety.

“I’m happy with my fifth place, for sure,” Raich said. “The goal today was to be on the podium, to be on top. The podium was possible but first place impossible. Ligety was too strong. He was in such good shape today. He pushed really hard. I have to say he was unbeatable today. He pushed hard without compromise. He did that the last two races.”

After finishing each run and taking their skis off, racers hobbled around with stiff legs, commenting to each other about how roughly the Bellevarde can put up a fight. Didier Cuche, who finished 29th and reportedly strained his back in the second run, stood up before the finish line, then laid down inside the fence, stretching his back and legs. He got up and limped away, clearly hurting. Other racers talked about “running out of gas” and “losing control” at some point on the course.

“It is really the most challenging slope we ski on,” said Germany’s Fritz Dopfer, who notched one of his only three World Cup finishes in spectacular fashion Saturday. He was 29th in the first run then held the lead for the first 13 racers in the second (putting down the top second run time) to finish 16th, his best ever result in a World Cup GS race. “The gates are very close together, it is turning the whole way down. The slope is very steep and the visibility in the second run - with the shadows – it was very, very difficult. You see even the strongest guys – like Cuche – in pain after this race. But I am happy with my race and I hope that I can have more of this success.”

The Bellevarde claimed 20 racers in the first run, the worst of which was Austrian Philipp Schoerghofer, who was leading the run on the top part of the course then became progressively wilder on the way down and crashed at the bottom but appeared to have no serious injuries. Local favorite Jean-Baptiste Grange slid on his hip at the top of the course and missed a gate and Bode Miller did a similar move, recovering only to miss a gate farther down the course. Freeskiing sensation Jon Olsson, who was making his Alpine World Cup debut in bib No. 53, was having a decent first run until missing a gate at the bottom of the course.

The FIS Audi World Cup continues in Val d’Isere on Sunday with men’s slalom.

by Shauna Farnell
FISalpine.com
Saturday 11 December 2010