Ligety Second in Giant Slalom Title
SCHLADMING, Austria (March 17) – Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) needed a victory in the final Audi FIS Alpine World Cup tour giant slalom to have a shot at a fourth title, but nearly skied out in the first run to eliminate his chances. Ligety was bounced off course and hiked back in to finish the run. He won the second run, but Austrian Marcel Hirscher claimed the win to close the door on the giant slalom title and move ahead of Swiss Beat Feuz in the overall chase by 25 points with only Sunday's slalom remaining.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) skied off course and hiked in the first run to miss a shot at a fourth World Cup giant slalom title.
- Ligety won the second run to finish 25th on the day and outside of the points.
- Austrian Marcel Hirscher won the race to claim the giant slalom title and move into the overall lead.
- With only Sunday's slalom remaining, Hirscher leads Swiss Beat Feuz by 25 points.
- Both Ligety and Nolan Kasper (Warren, VT) will start the slalom for the U.S. Ski Team.
QUOTES
Ted Ligety
My only option today was to win so I was going hard. I was the fastest and when you live by the sword you die by the sword. I made a big mistake and when you are going hard it comes at you quick and those things happen.
You can’t expect to win the globe when you go out two times this sesaon, especially not when somebody like (Marcel) Hirscher is skiing as well as he has and consistently as he has.
It’s somewhat frustrating, but not that frustrating. I still scored the most points I ever have in a season for giant slalom. I think you would be hard pressed to find somebody with the same consistency I have had over the years so I am happy with that.
I resigned myself into knowing that I wasn’t going to win the cup already being 92 points back and Hirscher being relentless. It's no big surprise there.
TV
Universal Sports will air the race at 1 p.m. ET
RESULTS
Official Results