Soelden, Austria – Four-time Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom champion Ted Ligety pulled out an historic win at the Soelden World Cup giant slalom on Sunday, becoming the first man in history to win three World Cup GS races in a row at Soelden and matching Austrian great Hermann Maier’s three-win tally in the Soelden GS.

Ligety, of Park City, Utah, beat out Frenchman Alexis Pinturault by 0.79 seconds to nab his 18th victory and open the Olympic season. A strong team performance stacked half of the top 10 with the French. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher was third.

Ligety has now been on every World Cup GS podium since he won the 2012 World Cup GS opener in Soelden. That’s nine-straight GS podiums.

“It feels good. I was definitely a little anxious coming into this race just because you never really know how you stand,” Ligety confessed. “In training last year I was winning by a second and a half versus everybody, and this time I was getting beat in training sometimes so it’s good to know that you’re actually still fast. And we have a lot of guys that are skiing fast so it’s nice to get some confirmation.”

Two-time overall champion Bode Miller  of Franconia, N.H., skied into the top-20 during his first World Cup race since Feb. 2012. Teammate Tim Jitloff, of Reno, Nev., finished 20th, right behind Miller.

“It was disappointing skiing today. It’s not where I’ve been skiing the last weeks and obviously not where I want to start out,” said Miller. “I didn’t really come in with much of a goal. I wanted to obviously finish and see where I stacked up. I was hoping to ski similar to how I skied in training. That’s always my goal.

“But you know, sometimes it doesn’t happen,” he admitted. “I think fewer things were in my favor. The light has broken up and the wind is actually blowing all around, swirling in every different direction. On the bottom I could feel that it just wasn’t going downhill at that point.”

The course was drenched in sun and became slushy during the first run, but high winds, bumps and variable light made for a more difficult second run. The start was lowered by 10 gates for both runs due to the high winds.

“It was a tough one today but a great learning experience,” said Martin Rufener, the new head coach of the Canadian men’s alpine team that failed to qualify any of its four starters for a second run. “It’s October and very quickly the snow (deteriorated). Only two made it through from outside the top 30, which shows how difficult it was. That’s not an excuse – it’s a fact.”

The World Cup travels next to Levi, Finland to race slalom. The women take the hill on Saturday, Nov. 16 and the men on Sunday, Nov. 17. Ligety will be in New York City this Tuesday to receive the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Olympic SportsMan of the Year Award, a part of the 100 Days Out to Sochi festivities.

“I think the best preparation for the Olympics is the World Cup season because that gives you the confidence, it keeps you sharp and just that whole competitive atmosphere keeps you going and gives you the ability to bring your best skiing to the Olympics,” Ligety added. “That’s what happened at World Championships last year. I had a lot of confidence with my super G and my giant slalom skiing and I was able to roll into some medals. So right now my main focus is doing well in the World Cups, and then come the week before the Olympics I’m going to think about the Olympics.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Alpine World Cup
Soelden, Austria – October 27, 2013
Men’s Giant Slalom

Rank	Bib	Name	Run 1	Run 2	Tot. Time
1	3	LIGETY Ted	1:00.44	59.06	1:59.50
2	1	PINTURAULT Alexis	1:01.34	58.95	2:00.29
3	4	HIRSCHER Marcel	1:01.42	59.10	2:00.52
4	6	SVINDAL Aksel Lund	1:02.95	58.28	2:01.23
4	18	MISSILLIER Steve	1:03.25	57.98	2:01.23
6	13	SANDELL Marcus	1:02.15	59.17	2:01.32
7	7	FANARA Thomas	1:03.38	58.20	2:01.58
8	22	RICHARD Cyprien	1:02.88	58.78	2:01.66
9	24	FAIVRE Mathieu	1:03.29	58.39	2:01.68
10	10	SCHOERGHOFER Philipp	1:02.51	59.29	2:01.80