Teddy Shred got the job done. Tactical, smart and fast Ted Ligety finished in a tie for third in the final GS of the season at Garmisch Friday and iced his second GS title.

The Iceman, Carlo Janka won the race and in the process put the overall championship away as well.

Ligety said his runs were not what he had been hoping to produce, but his first was fast enough to tighten down the screws.

“I was super psyched to have a good first run and put the pressure on those other guys,” Ligety said, “And then I was lucky wnough to have those guys make some mistakes and what not.”

In deed, his top two competitors had taken themselves out by the end of the first run, Marcel Hirscher on a DQ for an early start and Massimiliano Blardone having struggle mightily in his run, skiing way off course. Though he survived the run, he was dead last and remained so even after putting down the fastest second run.

Benjamin Raich, also Janka’s main competition for the overall title, was too conservative in the first run and finished 11th, more than a second behind the leaders. Though he put up the second fastest second run time it was no where near enough to move into contention.

Third after the first heat and with a huge lead over anyone who could overtake him for the title, and with seven skiers in front of him failing to finish a tricky course set, Ligety scaled back his attack a half notch and rolled into the tie with Philipp Schoerghofer – the race leader with two more skiers to go – and knew the run had been good enough.

“I thought I just needed to get to the finish line,” he said. “with that I just wanted to have a solid run. I was pretty conservative. If I had known I had already won I would have tried to push a little harder.”

David Simoncelli got second on the day and Janka the win, but Janka was still 71points behind the American on the GS chart and Simoncelli 101 back in fourth place.

The win gave Janka a 106pt lead over Raich and with just the slalom finale remaining, he won the first overall title for a Swiss male since Paul Accola won it in 1992.

Janko said he figured he needed the win if he was to stand a chance at the overall title and said he was particularly pleased with his second run on the tough course that will serve for the World Championships next season.

“Everything has come together for me this season and I have won everything
that there is to win,” he said. “It also all came together today for me: the weather, the snow, everything
was perfect and I carried that all the way to the finish line.”

Ligety said the GS title in combination with the one he won in 2008 marks him as one of the most consistent GS skiers in the world, noting that this has been goal. “It has been a goal of mine to be consistent over the years. Hopefully I can builid on this and maybe challenge for an overall title in the future.”

photos by GEPA

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Men’s Giant Slalom, World Cup Finals, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, March 12, 2010.
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Simoncelli, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3 Schoerghofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Cuche, Head/Head/Head
6 Jansrud, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Ploner, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

Men’s Giant Slalom, World Cup Finals, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, March 12, 2010. … It is the 33rd race of the men’s 34 race 2010 World Cup schedule. … The seventh and final giant slalom. … It is the third of four men’s races at Finals. … It is the 88th World Cup race hosted at least in part by Garmisch, the third GS.

It is the eighth career World Cup win for Carlo Janka. … his third in GS. … It is his sixth win of the season, plus the GS gold medal at the Olympics. … It is his second win of the World Cup Finals having previously won the downhill two days ago.

It is the seventh career World Cup podium result for Davide Simoncelli, all of them in GS. … He has been second in five races and won twice. … It is his second podium of the season, he finished second in Alta Badia to Maximiliano Blardone.

It is the first career World Cup podium for Philipp Schoerghofer. … his previous best a fifth at Are in the 2009 Finals. … Of his 16 World cup scoring results 14 are in GS the other two combined.

It is the 21st career World Cup podium result for Ted Ligety. … the 14th in GS. … It is his fifth podium result of the season, fourth in GS.

Ligety wins the GS title 412-341 over Janka. … Benjamin Raich (8th in race) finishes third at 331. … Simoncelli finishes fourth at 311. … Jean-Philippe Roy is the top Canadian in 26th place with 43pts. … It is Ligety’s second GS title having also won it in 2008. … He is one of five Americans to have won the GS crown and one of three to have won it twice following Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney to that mark. … Carlo Janka cinches the overall title. … He leads Raich 1197-1091 with a race remaining. … Didier Cuche (5th in race) is third in the overall chase with 952pts. … Ligety leads U.S. skiers on the men’s overall list in seventh place with 667pts. … Erik Guay is the top Canadian in 13th with 487pts.