Adelboden, Switzerland – Two-time Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom champion, Utahan Ted Ligety will be shooting for a record fourth consecutive giant slalom victory with 30,000 fans expected to be on hand Saturday in Adelboden.nA legend in ski racing lore, Adelboden hosted the inaugural week of World Cup racing in January of 1967 and has risen to one of the most heralded weekends of technical racing all season.
“Adelboden and Alta Badia are the giant slalom races everyone wants to win,” said Ligety, who did win Alta Badia on Dec. 19, capping a three week tear where he also won in Beaver Creek, CO and Val d’Isere, France.
Set on a cow pasture just outside the village, enormous grandstands are constructed and an entire spectator village grows out of the fields to accommodate droves of painted Swiss fans.
“The atmosphere in Adelboden is out of control and the hill is really cool,” he said. “It’s not your typical GS race. There’s a lot of rolls on the natural terrain that can toss you pretty quickly if you don’t make the right move.”
If Ligety, who won the Adelboden GS last year in Kranjska Gora, does make the right move, he’ll become a part of the Adelboden legend and more. Italian hero Alberto Tomba was the last World Cup racer to win four consecutive giant slalom races. Only it was over two seasons in 1991. Only Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden has gone four-for-four in the same winter and that was 32 years ago during the 1979 season.
Another win would also match Bode Miller’s American record of nine career GS wins. Miller and Phil Mahre own the best U.S. finishes in Adelboden with Mahre finishing second in 1985 and Miller matching in 1995.
“I’m not really thinking about trying to set records,” said Ligety. “If I do, I do. If I don’t, then I’m still going to be happy – as long as I still ski well.”
Also in the gate for the U.S. Ski Team are Miller, Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.), Tim Jitloff (Reno, Nev.) and Warner Nickerson (Gilford, N.H.). The start comes just under 48 hours after Ligety and Miller raced the night slalom in Zagreb, Croatia.