Beaver Creek – Just when it seemed the U.S. Ski Team had produced all the thrills it could muster over a four-day period, it came up with one more stellar performance Sunday to complete its most memorable homestand in decades.
Maybe its best ever.
World Cup champion Bode Miller hooked a tip on a gate and failed to qualify for the second run of Sunday’s slalom, but young Ted Ligety made up for it, surviving horrendous weather and course conditions to finish third for his first World Cup podium. He became the fifth podium finisher for the U.S. here in three days. Miller and Daron Rahlves traded first and second place in Friday’s downhill and Saturday’s giant slalom.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Ligety, 21. “Seeing Bode and Daron go 1-2 both days, and seeing Erik Schlopy get fourth (Saturday) was awesome. Unfortunately, Bode went out, and I felt I kind of had to carry the torch. I was glad to carry it on to another podium.”
Italy’s Giorgio Rocca, who won a bronze medal at last year’s world championships, won on a bitterly cold day that saw some of the tour’s best slalom racers flail, thrash and tumble. Stephane Tissot of France, who failed to finish or qualify for the second run in 16 of his 18 previous World Cup slalom starts, was second.
Inconsistent snow conditions, blowing snow and poor visibility created havoc and triggered temper tantrums. In the first run, 31 of 74 racers failed to finish or were disqualified. The carnage continued in the second run: Eight of the 31 who advanced failed to finish.
“Today was a war of attrition, and Ted won the war,” U.S. slalom coach Mike Morin said. “He didn’t win the race, but he won the war, and it moved him up to his first podium. There’s no more exciting way to get it than when you’ve put everything on the line and pulled it off when other guys are putting it on the line and they’re going out. It was tough up there.”
Notable victims included world silver medalist Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria, Olympic gold medalist Jean Pierre Vidal of France and Finland’s Kalle Palander, the 1999 slalom world champion.
Ligety was 12th in the first run and stood second upon completion of his second run. Five of the remaining 11 racers on the mountain didn’t reach the finish line. Most notable from Ligety’s perspective was the reigning World Cup slalom champion, Benjamin Raich of Austria, who recorded the fastest first run. Raich, the last who could push Ligety off the podium, went out just before the finish.
“I started to realize with a few guys left that it was going to be a top-five finish,” Ligety said. “I thought for sure (Raich) would have knocked me out, but then he went out as well. A lot of luck had to play into me getting a third place.”
Austrian head coach Toni Giger complained bitterly that the race jury should have held Raich in the start house because of wind gusts.
“He had no chance because there was so much wind,” Giger said. “You can’t see the ground if it is like this. The jury waited (for other skiers) but not for Benny. That’s not OK.”
There was no sympathy in the U.S. camp.
“You can’t really say the weather’s unfair,” Ligety said. “You can’t control it; the guy at the start can’t control it, either. You get the weather you get.”
Morin likes Ligety’s free spirit and his fearless attitude. Ligety’s undisguised joy stands in contrast to Miller’s jaded moodiness.
“Bode used to be like that,” Morin said. “Ted loves it for the speed and going for it, the thrill of putting down the run the way he wants to ski.”
Miller has failed to finish or qualify in nine of 10 slaloms since winning last December in Sestriere, Italy.
“The snow was all different; it was one icy turn, then really grippy,” Miller said. “I just was way out of balance, and I hooked a tip.”
With the Turin Olympics less than 10 weeks away, Beaver Creek gave the men’s team great momentum as it moves to Europe for the remainder of the season.
“Even though we’ve had momentum over the last few years, you never know if that is going to carry forward to the next year,” said Bill Marolt, chief executive of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. “Now we have a toehold and a platform from which we’ve got to push forward. There’s a lot of stuff between here and February. I’m pleased with the whole effort.”
