Kranjska Gora, Slovenia – Skipping the World Cup races held earlier this month in Kvitfjell, Norway proved to be a smart decision for Utah’s Ted Ligety, who used the down time to train for slalom and GS before posting a staggering 1.61-second victory on Saturday for the fourth win of his World Cup career in the Kranjska Gora giant slalom.

It was the largest margin of victory for the men’s Audi FIS Alpine World Cup this season and the biggest in recent history.

“It’s definitely a big victory, especially winning by that margin,” Ligety said. “I was proud of the effort I put in today. I think the last couple of races I was having trouble putting in the right amount of intensity and today I was able to find it and ski great both runs.”

It also kept Ligety, a three-time World Cup giant slalom champion, mathematically in the hunt for a fourth title as giant slalom leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria finished third. With only the March 11-18 World Cup Finals remaining, Hirscher leads Ligety by 92 points. Ligety has now scored 513 World Cup points in giant slalom, the most of his career in the discipline.

“I am about 90-something points behind now and that’s difficult to make up in one race,” Ligety admitted. “He (Hirscher) would have to blow it and I’d have to win, but we will see. I am just going to try to take another good race to end the year and wherever I end up, I end up.”

Bend, Ore.’sTommy Ford was 17th and Tim Jitloff, of Reno, Nev., 28th, yet narrowly missed qualifying for World Cup Finals. Jean-Philippe Roy, of Ste.-Flavie, Quebec, closed out his World Cup season with the best Canadian result by finishing in 24^th place in the giant slalom and 29^th in the overall giant slalom standings.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Kranjska Gora, Slovenia – Mar. 10, 2012
Men’s Giant Slalom