VAL D’ISERE, FranceARE, Sweden — Ted Ligety posted a blazing second run Sunday to grab 10th place in a World Cup giant slalom in the French Alps that Bode Miller skipped to protect an ankle he injured playing volleyball.
Ligety made several crucial errors that cost him more than two seconds in the morning run on the icy Face de Bellevarde course, but stormed back to post the second run’s best time, 1 minute, 9.86 seconds, and finish 0.83 seconds from a second podium-finish in two days.
Marcel Hirscher of Austria claimed his first World Cup victory in 2:16.28, ahead of Massimiliano Blardone of Italy and Austrian Benjamin Raich.
The U.S. team said Miller didn’t want to risk aggravating the injury by competing in the GS. The two-time World Cup champion is expected to race four events next week in Italy, at Val Gardena and Alta Badia.
The team released a statement that said Miller, 32, hurt his ankle in “dryland training.” Later, a team spokesman said the injury occurred in a volleyball game with teammates.
Ligety, of Park City, Utah, was 2.15 seconds off the pace after the morning run, but his all-out second run impressed U.S. coach Sasha Rearick.
“I’m really pleased with his performance in the second run,” Rearick said. “In the first run he made it to the bottom, and in the second run he fought hard the whole way. I’m very pleased with his efforts. He is a worker from top to bottom.”
After his runner-up finish in Saturday’s super-G, Ligety was the only American in the top 10 of the overall standings, fifth with 281 points.
“I did pretty poorly on the first run. I probably made 2 1/2 seconds of mistakes, but the second run was better,” Ligety said. “It’s hard to really go hard down the face when it’s dark. I did OK and the top was good, but it’s still not a perfect day.”
Ligety, who trails leader Benjamin Raich by 29 points in the giant slalom standings, said he was looking forward to the upcoming GS scheduled in Alta Badia. He will not enter the super-G and downhill scheduled for Val Gardena.
Vail’s Vonn plays it safe With fog covering one of her least-favorite slalom slopes, Lindsey Vonn had to give up all thoughts of skiing to win.
Vonn put down a safe second run to finish eighth in a World Cup slalom, losing the overall points lead to Maria Riesch of Germany but limiting the damage from a disappointing weekend.
Riesch finished second behind Sandrine Aubert of France and now leads the American by 20 points in the overall World Cup standings.
After skiing out less than 20 seconds into Saturday’s giant slalom, Vonn made sure to at least salvage some points Sunday.
Maria Riesch’s younger sister, Susanne, finished third for her first World Cup podium, following two fourth-places finishes earlier this season.
