Kranjska Gora: Ligety wins, keeps title hope alive

When push comes to shove Ted Ligety can bring the big shoulder.

Ligety blasted a strong second run at Kransjka Gora, Slovenia Saturday and kept the possibility for a second straight World Cup GS title alive.

Ligety first won the title last season by winning the last two races. He is halfway to that feat again this season, but he’s still going to need some help. A season ago he came into World Cup finals with a slim lead. This time he will be entering 73pts behind Didier Cuche. Last season Cuche played it too conservatively in the final race and lost. That Cuche placed second today is an indicator he does not intend to let it happen again.

“I’m still a long way off, it’s going to be hard to make up so many points on Cuche,” said Ligety. “I’m happy with the day, but I’m not really figuring the red bib anymore.”When push comes to shove Ted Ligety can bring the big shoulder.

Ligety blasted a strong second run at Kransjka Gora, Slovenia Saturday and kept the possibility for a second straight World Cup GS title alive.

Ligety first won the title last season by winning the last two races. He is halfway to that feat again this season, but he’s still going to need some help. A season ago he came into World Cup finals with a slim lead. This time he will be entering 73pts behind Didier Cuche. Last season Cuche played it too conservatively in the final SG race and lost his title. That Cuche placed second today is an indicator he does not intend to let it happen again.

“I’m still a long way off, it’s going to be hard to make up so many points on Cuche,” said Ligety. “I’m happy with the day, but I’m not really figuring (on) the red bib anymore.”

Massimiliano Blardone got third on the day his third podium of the season as he continues a comeback to top form.

Benjamin Raich, the GS standings leader coming into the event, had been fourth after the first run but dropped way back in the second heat to finish 15th, giving Ligety and Cuche the chance they needed. Raich held on to second place in the standings, but Cuche jumped to first and Ligety closed the gap considerably.

Ligety has gained a real appreciation for Kransjka Gora after notching a win here a season ago. It has to do with the hill, which is a tough one, and the time of year. This win on the last day of February is his earliest Cup victory.

“The hill is one of the best, my favorite on the circuit, along with Alta Badia,” Ligety said. ” It’s cool, so technical. The rhythm is awesome. It’s a good hill for me and for some reason I am always do well here.” Plus, he added, it got warm.

“It got really warm today but for some reason I seem to win when it gets warm. All my World Cup wins have came when it’s gone sludgy in the second run.”

It also didn’t hurt that he knew what to expect in the second run. His coach set the course.

“We set second run set really turny to try to give Ted an opportunity to shine at his skill, and he skied super,” said head coach Sasha Rearick who put the poles in the ground. But Rearick said it wasn’t the course set that helped as much as Ligety’s performance.

“After last week’s performance to step up and win a race is amazing,” Rearick said. “Cuche is skiing really hot, so to go out and catch him took a lot of effort and a lot of risk.”

Cuche being hot, however, is what makes any thoughts of a second straight GS title so difficult to wrap the head around. “Seventy-three points (the margin between Cuche and Ligety) is a lot of points,” Ligety told reporters. “I have to win and he will have to do pretty poorly so I don’t think that will happen. He is more determined this year and he knows he doesn’t want to blow like he did in the super-G last year.”

Canadian Jean-Philippe Roy notched the second best result of a 10 season World Cup career in seventh and he needed every bit of it. “I’m really happy because with today’s seventh place finish it puts me in the World Cup Finals. If I had finished in eighth, I wouldn’t be going,” Roy said.

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The SCOOP
Equipment
Men’s Giant Slalom, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Feb. 28, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
3 Blardone, Dynastar/Lange/Look
4 Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5 Missillier, Dynastar/Lange/Look
6 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Roy, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Schoerghofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Berthod, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Fanara, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Men’s Giant Slalom, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Feb. 28, 2009. … It is the 29th race of the men’s 38 race 2009 World Cup schedule. … It is the seventh of eight scheduled giant slaloms. … It is the first of two races at Kransjka Gora this weekend. … It is the 56th Cup race at Kranjska Gora. … The 32nd GS. … The 28th men’s GS.

It is the fourth career World Cup win for Ted Ligety, all in GS, and his second at Kranjska Gora having won at the site last season. … It is the earliest in the season he has scored a win, the other three all coming in March. …It is his first win of the season and third GS podium. … He also won the bronze medal in GS at Worlds Feb. 13. …It is the 195th US World Cup win. … Ligety moves into a tie with Julia Mancuso for 12th most by a U.S. skier.

It is the 46th career World Cup podium for Didier Cuche. … His tenth in GS. … It is his fourth Cup podium of the season and third in GS. … He also holds two medals from the World Championships this season. … It is his second Cup podium at Kranjska Gora the other a third in GS in 2001.

It is the 17th career World Cup podium for Massimiliano Blardone, all in GS. … It is his third podium of the season, the other two second place finishes at Val d’Isere and Adelboden. … It is his fourth podium at Kranjska-Gora and the third consecutive season he has earned a podium at the site.

It is the second best career Cup- placing for Jean-Philippe Roy. … He was fifth in GS at Alta Badia Dec. 19, 2004. … Two of his best three results have come at Kranjska Gora. … His best previous result for the season had been 19th in GS at Sestriere. … Tim Jitloff had been 18th after the first run.

Winning margin was .19 of a second.

Ivica Kostelic (20th in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 813-785 over Benjamin Raich (15th in race). … Jean-Baptiste Grange (27th in race) is third with 775pts and eight races remaining. … Didier Cuche holds the lead of the GS standings 414-362 over Raich with Ligety third at 341 with one race remaining.

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Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	6	534562	LIGETY Ted	1984	USA	1:07.45	1:12.47	2:19.92	0.00
2	3	510030	CUCHE Didier	1974	SUI	1:07.10	1:13.01	2:20.11	1.19
3	4	292000	BLARDONE Massimiliano	1979	ITA	1:07.35	1:12.91	2:20.26	2.14
4	16	51215	BAUMANN Romed	1986	AUT	1:07.78	1:12.77	2:20.55	3.96
5	34	192506	MISSILLIER Steve	1984	FRA	1:08.21	1:12.45	2:20.66	4.65
6	1	421328	SVINDAL Aksel Lund	1982	NOR	1:08.16	1:12.57	2:20.73	5.09
7	35	101895	ROY Jean-Philippe	1979	CAN	1:08.09	1:12.85	2:20.94	6.42
7	21	51007	SCHOERGHOFER Philipp	1983	AUT	1:08.22	1:12.72	2:20.94	6.42
9	11	510997	BERTHOD Marc	1983	SUI	1:08.61	1:12.34	2:20.95	6.48
10	20	191750	FANARA Thomas	1981	FRA	1:07.70	1:13.31	2:21.01	6.86
10	7	511313	JANKA Carlo	1986	SUI	1:07.82	1:13.19	2:21.01	6.86
12	10	50742	REICHELT Hannes	1980	AUT	1:08.48	1:12.81	2:21.29	8.62
13	15	421483	JANSRUD Kjetil	1985	NOR	1:08.34	1:12.98	2:21.32	8.81
14	13	191423	RICHARD Cyprien	1979	FRA	1:08.10	1:13.30	2:21.40	9.31
15	5	50625	RAICH Benjamin	1978	AUT	1:07.51	1:13.91	2:21.42	9.43
16	26	290693	PLONER Alexander	1978	ITA	1:08.02	1:13.49	2:21.51	10.00
17	47	191778	PICHOT Sebastien	1981	FRA	1:08.45	1:13.09	2:21.54	10.19
18	2	292491	MOELGG Manfred	1982	ITA	1:07.81	1:13.75	2:21.56	10.31
19	14	50600	GOERGL Stephan	1978	AUT	1:08.13	1:13.49	2:21.62	10.69
20	8	380260	KOSTELIC Ivica	1979	CRO	1:08.78	1:12.90	2:21.68	11.07
21	17	510727	DEFAGO Didier	1977	SUI	1:08.35	1:13.39	2:21.74	11.45
22	23	180534	SANDELL Marcus	1987	FIN	1:08.06	1:13.74	2:21.80	11.82
23	56	501017	MYHRER Andre	1983	SWE	1:08.51	1:13.51	2:22.02	13.21
24	32	293006	INNERHOFER Christof	1984	ITA	1:08.60	1:13.51	2:22.11	13.77
25	25	190677	CHENAL Joel	1973	FRA	1:08.75	1:13.39	2:22.14	13.96
26	42	501324	OLSSON Matts	1988	SWE	1:08.33	1:13.86	2:22.19	14.28
27	12	192665	GRANGE Jean-Baptiste	1984	FRA	1:08.29	1:15.00	2:23.29	21.19
Did not qualify 1st run
	64	102435	JANYK Michael	1982	CAN
	63	561148	SKUBE Matic	1988	SLO
	62	561119	MRAVLJA Anze	1987	SLO
	61	561117	KUERNER Miha	1987	SLO
	59	561032	JAZBEC Janez	1984	SLO
	58	100115	GRANDI Thomas	1972	CAN
	55	193967	MUFFAT JEANDET Victor	1989	FRA
	54	192653	FREY Thomas	1984	FRA
	51	501026	RAINER Niklas	1983	SWE
	50	30149	SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier	1980	ARG
	49	202462	DOPFER Fritz	1987	GER
	48	290896	HELL Wolfgang	1980	ITA
	46	192504	MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas	1984	FRA
	45	51332	SCHEIBER Florian	1987	AUT
	44	50707	MATT Mario	1979	AUT
	41	102239	COUSINEAU Julien	1981	CAN
	39	180292	LEINO Jukka	1978	FIN
	37	51159	NOESIG Christoph	1985	AUT
	36	533397	ZAMANSKY Jake	1981	USA
	33	292056	GUFLER Michael	1979	ITA
	30	560406	GORZA Ales	1980	SLO
	29	420148	KARLSEN Truls Ove	1975	NOR
	27	511352	VILETTA Sandro	1986	SUI
	22	191746	DE TESSIERES Gauthier	1981	FRA
	19	292120	SIMONCELLI Davide	1979	ITA
	18	292455	FILL Peter	1982	ITA
Did not finish 2nd run
	31	102873	KUCERA John	1984	CAN
	28	534959	JITLOFF Tim	1985	USA
	9	53831	HIRSCHER Marcel	1989	AUT
Did not finish 1st run
	65	430387	ILEWICZ Jakub	1987	POL
	60	533739	MARSHALL Cody	1982	USA
	57	990048	BORSOTTI Giovanni	1990	ITA
	53	421859	NILSEN Markus	1989	NOR
	52	150421	ZAHROBSKY Petr	1980	CZE
	43	102912	SPENCE Brad	1984	CAN
	40	560425	VAJDIC Bernard	1980	SLO
	38	150644	KRYZL Krystof	1986	CZE
	24	50451	GRUBER Christoph	1976	AUT