Alta Badia, Italy –Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom leader Ted Ligety was 10th in slalom Monday as Austrian rival and good friend Marcel Hirscher won to move into the World Cup slalom and overall lead.
“First run wasn’t super smooth but I skied down without any major mistakes, so I’m happy with that. I need to figure out why Hirscher is beating everybody by six-tenths on the bottom, but so far the skiing in slalom is getting better and better,” Ligety, of Park City Utah, said after today’s race. “The skiing is there for the most part, so as long as I can cut out some of the mistakes just because of my lack of volume.”
It was Ligety’s second slalom top 10 of the season and lands him third in the overall standings going into a Dec. 21 night slalom in Flachau, Austria behind Hirscher and Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal. Ligety led some disappointing American results that included Jimmy Cochran, who was 17th in his second race back after ankle surgery.Bode Miller and Will Brandenburg did not finish the first run, and Nolan Kasper and Will Gregorak did not qualify for a second run.
“It wasn’t a good day,” admitted Kasper. “That’s how it goes sometimes. It’s a tough sport and a lot of guys are fast so some days you’re on it and some days you’re not.”
Canada also had a tough day at the office in Alta Badia on Monday, with no skiers qualifying for the second run. But with only 48 hours until the next race in Flachau, the men’s team won’t have to wait long for a shot at redemption.
“It’s good that we have a race coming up so soon. It will be good to have a second crack at it,” said Brad Spence, of Calgary, Alberta, who was tied for 38th after the first run. “You can blame it on a million things but at the end of the day it’s pilot error. I can’t say that I had one big mistake but I had lots of little ones. The slalom circuit is as competitive as I’ve seen it so if you have a bad day, there’s 30 other guys who will (qualify).”
“We have a chance to quickly debrief about what went wrong today,” said Paul Kristofic, head coach of Canada’s men’s team. “We have a training day in Alta Badia and we are looking to redeem ourselves in Flachau. We have to have the right approach. We have to come out of the gate trying to win the first run.”
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Alta Badia, Italy – Dec. 19, 2011
Men’s Slalom
| Rank | Bib | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 2 | HIRSCHER Marcel | 1989 | AUT | 53.50 | 53.66 | 1:47.16 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 9 | RAZZOLI Giuliano | 1984 | ITA | 53.95 | 53.77 | 1:47.72 | 3.19 |
| 3 | 14 | NEUREUTHER Felix | 1984 | GER | 54.04 | 53.72 | 1:47.76 | 3.42 |
| 4 | 4 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | 54.35 | 53.46 | 1:47.81 | 3.70 |
| 5 | 1 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 53.61 | 54.28 | 1:47.89 | 4.16 |
| 6 | 7 | DEVILLE Cristian | 1981 | ITA | 54.33 | 53.98 | 1:48.31 | 6.55 |
| 7 | 38 | THALER Patrick | 1978 | ITA | 55.43 | 53.05 | 1:48.48 | 7.51 |
| 8 | 27 | GROSS Stefano | 1986 | ITA | 54.60 | 53.89 | 1:48.49 | 7.57 |
| 9 | 19 | PRANGER Manfred | 1978 | AUT | 55.29 | 53.41 | 1:48.70 | 8.77 |
| 10 | 18 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 54.52 | 54.26 | 1:48.78 | 9.22 |