Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety reports regularly from the World Cup tour in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer.
Munich, Germany – I don’t like to make excuses, so I’m not going to blame my broken hand for the way I skied in Sunday’s slalom at Levi, Finland, where I failed to qualify for the second run.
It was frustrating.
I broke the second metacarpal bone in my right hand training last month in Pitztal, Austria, and the day I got to Levi last week was the first day since the injury I tried using two poles. It was a bit of an adjustment. I was trying to figure out how to cross-block gates without causing any harm or pain in my injured hand.
I had to figure out how to hold the pole, too. We tried a couple of different solutions and ended up taping my wrist to the pole guard on the handle of the pole.
It wasn’t an ideal situation, but I still felt I was in good enough shape to do well. I probably had a chance, if things played out right.
We had awesome conditions for the race. Guys with start numbers in the 70s still had a chance because the course was super-bulletproof ice. There were a couple of sharp rollovers at the top, a flat, and then you had to break over one steep face for five gates that were super-steep into the finish line.
I felt good that morning and warmed up well. Poling out of the starting gate was kind of tough, because it was hard to get two or three good pulls out of one hand. I did what I could.
I skied pretty well the first 15 seconds or so, then came over the second sharp rollover going way too straight. I caught a little bit of air, wasn’t pointed in the right direction, and had to huck my skis sideways, barely making the next two gates before the flat.
On the flat was a hairpin, and I was way too late to make the first gate of the hairpin, so I went around the hairpin backward. Then I had to huck my skis again, and I had no speed to carry across the flat.
I got to the bottom, saw I was 2 1/2 seconds behind, and thought, “Whew, that’s not going to do it today.” It was frustrating, but you shouldn’t qualify for a second run skiing backward on hairpins.
I’m going to train with the team in Lake Louise, Alberta, next week and might race in the downhill there. When we get to Beaver Creek the following week, I don’t think my hand will be any issue in the downhill. I think it will be little or no issue in the giant slalom. Hopefully by then it will have healed to the point where it won’t be an issue in the slalom. I think by then it should be 100 percent.
