GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — For Ted Ligety, the week-old skiing world championships are just about to start.
The 26-year-old American has yet to finish a race at this year’s worlds after going out in the super-G and straddling a gate in the slalom portion of the super-combined. He skipped the downhill.
But with today’s team event and Friday’s giant slalom coming up, Ligety knows his best chances to land on a podium are still ahead of him.
“Walking away with no medal so far doesn’t change anything for me,” said Ligety, who dominates in GS and briefly led the overall standings this World Cup season.
“I knew my medal chances were slim in the super-G,” said Ligety, who had just one top-three finish in the discipline — in France last season.
The American was slowed by an early mistake and finally skied out.
“If I ski confidently and go all out, I can be fast,” he said. “But I made a lot of mistakes.”
Ligety said he had only “a half-chance” in the super-combined event, and that was further reduced when speed specialists Aksel Lund Svindal, Christof Innerhofer and Peter Fill put in some unexpectedly good slalom runs.
“You have no chance when these guys are skiing that well in slalom,” Ligety said.
The team event will be carried out in a parallel slalom format, with two men and two women per team competing against each other.
“That should be fun,” Ligety said. “With Julia (Mancuso), Sarah (Schleper), Bode (Miller) and I, I think we have a pretty good chance there if we all put in a good effort.”
The American team has to do without Lindsey Vonn, who left the worlds Monday because of the lingering effects of a concussion.
World Cup leader Maria Riesch of Germany also pulled out of the team event to rest for the giant slalom and slalom events.
Ligety said he likes the format of the team event, calling it “a lot better” than previous team competitions with super-G and slalom runs.
“That was completely ridiculous,” he said. “This actually makes sense and is more fun.”
The penultimate men’s race, however, should become Ligety’s highlight at the worlds.
“Obviously, GS is my go-to event right now,” said Ligety, who is the defending World Cup GS champion and won three of five races this season.
Ligety will also compete in Sunday’s slalom.
