Highlight-reel Crash Costs Ligety GS Lead
ADELBODEN, Switzerland (Jan. 5) - Olympian Jimmy Cochran (Keene, NH) was the lone U.S. skier to finish an Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom Saturday, coming in 17th. Ted Ligety (Park City, UT), who went out in a highlight-reel crash in the first run, lost his points lead but is just 23 points back. WCSN.com will provide same-day, on-demand webstreaming.
Swiss skiers Marc Berthod and Daniel Albrecht finished 1-2 with Berthod, who won here a year ago, collecting the second win of his career in 2:27.56. Cochran's time was 2:29.31.
Ligety had gotten perhaps eight gates into the course when his skis locked in the snow and he was launched upwards of 40 feet down the course, doing a 360-degree spin before landing on his back. He was jarred, but not seriously hurt, he said.
The Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom points leader since Dec. 2 at the Charles Schwab Birds of Prey races in Beaver Creek, CO, he dropped to fourth behind Albrecht in the standings. However, the four are just 23 points apart with Albrecht at 258, World Cup leader Benjamin Raich of Austria at 248, Finn Kalle Palander at 240 and Ligety with 235 after five races.
"I'll lose the red bib [signifying the discipline leader], but otherwise I'm okay," Ligety said. The course, considered one of the premier GS hills on the World Cup circuit, looked "tame," he said. However, dark and flat light plus a challenging course-set undid Ligety, Bode Miller (Bretton Woods, NH) and Dane Spencer (Boise, ID), along with 20 other racers - an unusually high number for GS - in the first run.
"It was really tough. That last pitch is very steep," Cochran said. "It's definitely tough getting back after the holidays at home, but it's also a good atmosphere because everything is focused on racing. You have to put distractions aside." It's his second consecutive top 20 after no results in the first three races.
Coach Sasha Rearick echoed his two racers. "Adelboden is the exam. This is a real test - and to win here, you have to master the terrain. Ted had a huge crash just as he was going for it. It was full-on, reminding a lot of us about Daron Rahlves' crash a couple of years ago when he was leading on the second run and got launched backwards down the hill. Ted's crash made good TV, I'm sure. He's bruised a bit, but he's okay, nothing serious and he'll be back at it in the slalom."
With no more World Cup giant slaloms until late next month, Rearick said Spencer, who is coming back from a life-threatening crash two years ago, will ski several Europa Cup giant slaloms to further fine-tune his skiing. "Dane's been skiing great and we all thought today was going to be his day," he said, "but it didn't happen."
The men race a slalom Sunday and then head to Wengen for the annual Lauberhorn Race Week events next weekend.
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Highlight-reel Crash Costs Ligety GS Lead
