ALTA BADIA, Italy — It was an eventful week for me, including a penalty by the World Cup for a lame rules violation and my first slalom podium in almost exactly a year.
In slalom and giant slalom, the top-seeded racers have public bib draws the night before the race. It’s a big party atmosphere, usually in a public square.
We’re supposed to gather 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the bib draw. I was two minutes late Saturday night for the draw for Sunday’s GS — meaning I was there 13 minutes before the draw itself — and got penalized by World Cup official Guenther Hujara. The penalty: starting 46th — instead of where I belonged, in the top 15.
I got there and I said: “I’m here. Sorry I was late.” We waited 10 minutes, and then Guenther said: “Ted Ligety’s not here. He has to run after bib No. 45.”
I’m standing 10 feet away from him and I said: “Guenther, I’m right here. It’s OK.”
He said: “No, I’m sorry, you’re starting after 45. You were late.”
I said: “I was two minutes late. I was stuck in traffic. What do you want? I was here in plenty of time for the bib draw.”
Everybody was trying to stand up for me. The leader of the Swiss team, Didier Cuche, got in Guenther’s face and had a long talk with him, tried to lobby for me. That didn’t go anywhere. The next day, all the other racers were talking about how wrong it was. Nobody was saying, “You got what you deserved.” Everyone was in disbelief that the penalty held.
The World Cup is run like a dictatorship. There’s one person, Hujara, who has the final say in everything. It’s tough, being an athlete, wanting to see change in the sport, and never having anything get done except the will of one person. There’s a lot of frustration.
I managed to finish fifth and retain the red leader’s bib in the GS standings. And on Monday, I was third in a slalom — my first slalom podium since we were in Alta Badia a year ago. I was super happy, because I’ve been skiing great in slalom, but having problems finishing races. It’s a big relief to get it in the finish with a good result.
