Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety reports regularly from the World Cup tour in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer.
Alta Badia, Italy – I finished second in Monday’s slalom to mark the fourth consecutive podium for the U.S. men, the first time that has happened. Bode Miller won a super-G on Friday and was second in Sunday’s giant slalom. Steve Nyman won the downhill Saturday.
It’s so cool. You always love to watch Bode win, but when somebody like Nyman or Marco Sullivan (fourth Saturday) is leading a race, you root for the guy to make the breakthrough.
I was so happy to see Nyman get his first World Cup win. I’ve been skiing with him since I was 13 years old, when we were on the team together in Park City, Utah. He was one of the guys I looked up to, he was so fast in slalom. It’s been great to watch him progress, make the U.S. Ski Team and win the world juniors slalom title in 2002. He struggled with injuries after that, but last year he started to emerge.
He got his first podium at Beaver Creek three weeks ago, finishing third in a downhill Bode won, and now he’s got his first win. It’s so cool to watch it happen because he’s an awesome guy. He doesn’t just love to race, he loves skiing, he loves to go powder skiing. That’s what skiing is about, not just bashing gates every day.
Saturday also marked a breakthrough for Marco, who missed the podium by only .01 of a second. He has struggled with injuries in recent years. He was 10th in the Beaver Creek downhill, and to see him ski so close to his first podium Saturday was fantastic. It was fun to see him, and then Nyman, dodging big stars as they attempted to beat their times.
It definitely rubbed off on me. I went into Sunday’s giant slalom (seventh) and the slalom with a lot of confidence. I train with those guys, and their success showed we all can do it. It builds momentum when you see the guys you train with on a daily basis going for it and having breakthroughs.
One of the sweetest things was that not a single Austrian scored World Cup points (top 30) Monday. I don’t know how long it has been since that happened, but it’s so awesome. Everybody in the finish area was slapping hands about it. That’s just unbelievable, and it’s good for ski racing. When Austria sweeps the podium, nobody is really cheering or watching.
It’s not that I hate Austrians, but it’s unhealthy for the sport when they dominate the way they have in recent years. There has been a sense of the World vs. Austria in ski racing. They’re a little arrogant, and it’s nice to see other guys win.
