Ligety Takes Big Lead in Giant Slalom
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia - Ted Ligety's dominance of the men's giant slalom, which began seven winters ago, continued Wednesday as he took nearly a one second lead over the field in the first run of the event at the Sochi Olympics.
The second run of the giant slalom will be contested at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Center on Wednesday afternoon with the top 30 racers skiing in inverse order of their finish in the first run. Ligety, an American, is the defending world champion in the giant slalom and has won the World Cup season-long giant slalom standings four times.
Ligety's edge over the second-place finisher, Ondrej Bank of the Czech Republic, was 0.93 seconds. Davide Simoncelli of Italy was third, 1.27 seconds back.
'It's good to have a lead on a tactical hill like this one,' Ligety said after his first run. 'I will have to ski well in the afternoon but I don't have to take a ton of risk.'
Ligety had a shot at winning a medal in the super combined earlier in the Sochi Games, but he skied conservatively in the second portion of the event and finished 12th. In the super-G a few days later, he was 14th.
'The combined was definitely disappointing mostly because I could have skied a lot faster,' Ligety said. 'In the super-G I think I skied great, I just made a big mistake.'
Bode Miller, Ligety's teammate, had a difficult first run Wednesday, getting thrown around and nearly missing gates after both jumps. He was 2.56 seconds behind Ligety.
Miller said after his first run that he might not compete in Saturday's men's slalom because of swelling in his left knee, which has been slightly sprained in various events at the Sochi Games, including the giant slalom.
If Miller, 36, does not compete in the slalom it is likely to mean that Wednesday's event is his last as an Olympian. Miller has won six Olympic medals, more than any other American Alpine skier and tied for the second most by any Olympic Alpine racer.
Marcel Hirscher, an Austrian who is considered perhaps Ligety's biggest competition in the event, was 1.39 seconds back after an uneven run. Like many racers, Hirscher caught a little too much air on the Bear's Brow jump and lost time recovering.
'I'm happy to ski the way I know I can ski,' Ligety said. 'It's a difficult course but I had a plan that I executed.'
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