ADELBODEN, SWITZERLAND — I had a really spectacular crash in Saturday’s giant slalom. I’m a big fan of watching crashes, and if I’m going to have one, I always hope it’s entertaining.
This one was pretty much the perfect crash in that it looked really bad, but I walked away without any serious injuries. The only thing that would have been better would be if it had included a tumble over the fence.
Adelboden is a tough hill that can catch you off guard pretty easily. I wouldn’t call it the most technically challenging hill, but there’s just so much terrain in it and different rhythm changes. It’s always pretty fast, especially in the middle flats. It’s hard to stay ahead of the course when you’re going over this terrain and going so fast.
For Saturday’s race, there was a soft layer of snow on top of a harder layer, and it was a little bit cloudy, which made it hard to see a lot of the terrain.
I kind of laced into a turn at the bottom of the first steep pitch in a compression, my skis hooked up really hard and I got thrown into the air. I flipped around and landed on my back.
When I landed, my pole planted in the snow and I punched myself in the face pretty good, so I’m a little bruised and swollen. Otherwise, I’m all good.
But it was a painful blow considering I was leading the giant slalom standings, I didn’t get any points out of the race and I lost the GS leader’s red bib. Fortunately, the guys I’m fighting for the GS season title didn’t have great days, and I’m only 23 points out of the lead. That’s not a huge amount of points to make up, especially if I ski well the next couple of GS races.
In Sunday’s slalom, I tied for third in the first run but went out in the second run. Slalom is frustrating sometimes. I was solid in the first run and didn’t make any mistakes. In the second run, I pushed it a little harder but made a mistake coming over a roll and hooked a gate.
That’s how it goes in slalom. If you’re going for it, you’re always within millimeters of going out.
Ted Ligety, the Olympic combined
champion, reports regularly
from the World Cup ski tour in collaboration
with Denver Post ski
writer John Meyer.
