Kranjska Gora, Slovenia – Newly crowned giant slalom World Champion Ted Ligety, of Park City, Utah, extended his Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom lead to 77 points over Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal with a third place result Saturday in Slovenia. The giant slalom podium was Ligety’s fifth consecutive in Kranjska Gora after winning at the resort the last three seasons. Swiss Carlo Janka claimed the win one week after receiving minor surgery on his heart with two-time giant slalom World Junior champion Alexis Pinturault of France in third.nOne giant slalom race remains on the 2011 World Cup schedule.
“I was saying earlier in this week that I feel like should have more than a 27 point cushion on Aksel coming into this race and it’s definitely nice to have a bigger cushion going into World Cup Finals,” Ligety said following Saturday’s race.
“We still have a little race ahead of us. Aksel would just have to get second and Richard would have to win, but it’s a nice place for Ted to be,” added U.S. Ski Team men’s Head Coach, Sasha Rearick. “He skied solid in the first run and great on the bottom, but never quite got the rhythm of the course set. In the second run he skied really well in parts and was able to stay on the podium.”
Course conditions in Kranjska Gora were tricky for the World Cup field on Saturday. Some spots were soft and slushy, while others were hard and icy, catching many racers off guard.
“They did a really good job getting the surface to be good underneath, but it was pretty slick and with the warming conditions it kind of made a different layer on top with grippy ice in some sections,” Ligety explained. “It was giving some guys a lot of problems and both course sets were really challenging so just to finish was a good thing.”
“It was inconsistent snow today, there was some softer new snow, some slush and some really slick spots. It was definitely catching people,” Rearick acknowledged.
Tim Jitloff, of Reno, Nev., finished 24th, while neither Bend, Ore.’s Tommy Ford nor Warner Nickerson, of Gilford, N.H., finished their first run. Longmont, Colo.’s Will Gregorak failed to qualify for his first run. Bode Miller did not compete, and will again this year take the rest of the season off to spend more time with his daughter stateside in San Diego, Calif. He also skipped the last World Cup stop in Bansko, Bulgaria, and it’s uncertain whether he’ll be back on the World Cup circuit next season.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Kranjska Gora, Slovenia – March 5, 2011
Giant Slalom
1. Carlo Janka, Switzerland, 2:27.05
2. Alexis Pinturault, France, 2:27.07
3. Ted Ligety, Park City, UT, 2:27.17