SOELDEN, Austria — Lindsey Vonn hasn’t missed a beat in her risky switch of ski manufacturers entering an Olympic year. Ted Ligety, meanwhile, has picked up right where he left off before injuring his right knee at the end of last season.
Vonn finished a respectable ninth in her worst event — giant slalom — to open the World Cup season Saturday, and Ligety placed second in the men’s giant slalom on Sunday behind Swiss veteran Didier Cuche.
Vonn, the two-time defending overall World Cup champion, switched from Rossignol to Head during the offseason when the financially struggling French company asked its athletes to accept 50 percent cuts in their endorsement deals.
Ligety didn’t require surgery after injuring his knee at the U.S. championships in March, but he was in a full leg brace for six weeks before beginning rehab.
“This spring was definitely the most boring spring I’ve ever had in a while,” he said. “Usually that’s the time I’m out powder skiing and biking and other sports, so it was tough to sit on the couch.
“But by July I was able to train a little harder — ski half as hard as I wanted to — and then by Chile (September training camp) I was 100 percent and these last two weeks I’ve been pushing it all out.”
Finishing second to the defending World Cup giant slalom champion in his first race back put the finishing touch on the return.
“I wasn’t expecting that because he just came from injury,” U.S. head coach Sasha Rearick said. “He had been skiing very well technically, but to throw himself down that hill and take the chances, that shows the extreme competitor in Ted.”
Ligety lost 0.6 of a second to Cuche in the flat finishing section on both runs. Cuche, unlike Ligety, also excels in the speed events of downhill and super-G and is more adept at skiing the flats.
“That’s a big difference to make up in a race,” Ligety said. “He’s a downhill skier, so you definitely see his strength down there in the straighter, faster section. That’s something I need to work on.”
Cuche clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 21.45 seconds for his 10th World Cup victory. Ligety finished 0.60 of a second behind and Carlo Janka of Switzerland was third, 0.95 back, as the top three held their positions from the opening run. Italian giant slalom specialist Max Blardone finished fourth and Olympic GS champion Benjamin Raich was fifth.
Bode Miller, who skipped the Soelden race after a seven-month hiatus from the sport, plans to make the World Cup stop in Levi, Finland, on Nov. 14-15 his first race back with the U.S. Ski Team after two years of skiing independently.
