Bansko, Bulgaria – Park City, Utah’s Ted Ligety survived a near crash in his second run in a World Cup giant slalom in Bansko on Saturday, dropping him from first to 27th on the day and out of the lead of the giant slalom standings for the first time this season. Austrian Marcel Hirscher won to jump 81 points in front of Ligety with three giant slalom races remaining in the season.

In a stumble Ligety missed a gate that whipped him and cut his face. He hiked uphill to navigate the gate and stay in the race, leading to his finish seven seconds back.

“Ted was going extremely hard and I think at gate five or six hit the groove from the earlier guys and just went on his side and had to hike around the gate,” explained Mike Day, men’s technical coach for the U.S. Ski Team.

Jean-Philippe Roy, of Ste.-Favie, Quebec, topped the Canadian men in 22nd following a hip slide in bad light. Tommy Ford, of Bend, Ore., earned Saturday’s lone U.S. highlight with a career-best 12th, followed by Tim Jitloff of Reno, Nev. in 18th, while Franconia, N.H.’s Bode Miller crashed on the third-to-last gate of the first run. He would have qualified for a second run were it not for his on-hill antics thereafter.

“Bode did a few flat spins across the finish line and would have qualified if he didn’t get squashed like that,” said Day. “He said people his age shouldn’t do things like that. He’s going to miss the slalom tomorrow.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Bansko, Bulgaria – Feb. 18, 2012
Men’s Giant Slalom