VAL D’ISERE, France — Ted Ligety couldn’t see his way to a fifth straight podium finish in World Cup giant slalom.
Battling changing snow and poor visibility, the U.S. skier finished 12th behind winner Carlo Janka of Switzerland on Saturday.
“It was so bumpy you just couldn’t see anything. You had to feel your way down,” Ligety said. “I was trying hard to go harder, but I just couldn’t allow myself to do that when it’s like that.”
Janka finished in a two-run time of 2 minutes, 22.73 seconds, beating Massimiliano Blardone of Italy by 0.20 seconds.
Ligety, the reigning World Cup giant slalom champion, also had trouble seeing.
“The first five guys or so had nice, light conditions,” Ligety said. “Then it continually got worse and worse until the very end when you were struggling to see it.”
Even so, U.S. men’s coach Sasha Rearick praised Ligety’s effort. “Ted was attacking in the first run and made a mistake,” Rearick said.
American Bode Miller, the defending World Cup overall champion, also struggled with the lighting and finished 24th.
Vonn DQ’d; Poutiainen wins.
Lindsey Vonn was disqualified for running off the course and Tanja Poutiainen of Finland won the giant slalom, overtaking the American in the overall standings in La Molina, Spain.
Vonn will have to wait in her bid to become only the fifth female skier to win events in all five disciplines.
American Julia Mancuso finished 18th in the race in the Spanish Pyrenees. Poutiainen won her eighth World Cup race, edging Manuela Moelgg of Italy by 0.02 seconds.
The Associated Press
