Ligety fit, focused and targeting a tech title in 2008

Reigning Olympic combined gold medalist Ted Ligety donned a hard hat and a shovel for Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the USSA Center of Excellence, joining a number of his fellow U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team athletes who participated in the festivities.
    Looking fit, well-rested, sporting long blond hair fit for the beach and minus the moustache he sported much of last season, Ligety took a few minutes to speak with Ski Racing after setting down his shovel. 
PARK CITY, Utah — Reigning Olympic combined gold medalist Ted Ligety donned a hard hat and a shovel for Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the USSA Center of Excellence, joining a number of his fellow U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team athletes who participated in the festivities.
     Looking fit, well-rested, sporting long blond hair fit for the beach and minus the moustache he sported much of last season, Ligety took a few minutes to speak with Ski Racing after setting down his shovel. Having spent most of the summer at his home in Park City getting, as he put it, “reacclimatized to the town just in time to leave,” Ligety will head to Mount Hood next week to coach at the camp that bears his name. After that, it’ll be time to prep for training camps in New Zealand and Chile in August and September. The World Cup is due to kick off Oct. 27 in Sölden, Austria.

Ski Racing: Off-season training is well under way for you, and trips to New Zealand and Chile are coming up. Describe your condition now and how your body recovered from last season.
Ted Ligety: I feel like I’m in really good shape. I’ve been mountain biking a lot, doing a lot of water skiing, playing tennis. And I’ve been in the gym just about every day as well. I’ve been working out really hard, taking on a lot of volume and so I feel like I’m in some of the best shape I’ve ever been in coming into the season, so it should be good.

SR: What are your goals for the rest of the summer, particularly the Southern Hemisphere camps? Are you tinkering with your Rossignol equipment setup at all?
TL: My equipment setup is getting pretty solid now. There’s a big change in skis, but I took a lot of time at the end of the year last year trying to figure that out. Otherwise, I’m just trying to get to that same kind of aggressiveness that I need to be at to start winning races. That’s the main goal, to try and get to the point where I can win.

SR: What’s the biggest goal for you this season? How important will it be to get off to a good start?
TL: I want to be able to challenge for either a GS or a slalom title. That’s a big goal. I think if I get set up right at the beginning of the year, especially getting that first slalom race under your belt with a  good finish is important. That way you can relieve some of the pressure. Once you start making a couple of DNFs it’s kind of hard to battle back. I think next year if I start off well I should be good.

SR: Give me your take on the talent on the men’s tech team this season. Will Brandenburg really opened some eyes at nationals last season as a junior and now he’ll get a shot. There’s obviously you and veteran Jimmy Cochran as well.
TL: Jimmy’s been having a couple of good races every year. He hasn’t been able to put together a lot of consistency but he has a lot of speed. He’s always challenging me every day in training, it’s just a matter of him coming through in the races and doing it, so he should make an impact on the World Cup any day now. It’s kind of a matter of time. And his cousin, Tim Kelley, has tons of speed in the slalom as well, and Will Brandenburg has speed in slalom and GS. So I think that’ll be really good. Also Cody Marshall. He’s not s super young guy but he just made the World Cup team this year. It should be good. I think we have a good crew.