First Crystal globe for Ted Ligety

Manuèle Lang 14.03.2008 19:21 Uhr

Thanks to his superb win in the last giant slalom of the season, USA’s Ted Ligety became the only third US skier to capture the specialty World Cup title in that event after Phil Mahre in 1982 and 1983 and Bode Miller in 2004. It’s a major achievement for the combined Olympic champion from 2006 who already won last weekend’s giant slalom at Kranjska Gora.

“It has again been a tough fight today, I’m very lucky to win that race after fully attacking this afternoon,” said the skier from Par City. “After the first run, I understood that I had to change my tactic and my way of skiing, be much more aggressive in the second run. I wasn’t enough determined this morning and I ended up at with a far 6th place behind Benjamin Raich.”

“I had to take a lot of risks afterwards in the second run, I was charging like crazy. I knew that I had to ski at my limits to get closer to Benni Raich who has been skiing is so strong again.”

“I’m glad that it came through, there was definitely no raking this morning. I had to go for it, there was no other solution. I had to be faster than him. I’m so happy to be on the podium again especially with such a win!”

“To get the globe after winning the last race is the best way to close the season. Actually, I think that this is the most exciting way it has to do it. It was a total fight today, the conditions weren’t easy. After Benni’s excellent first run, it couldn’t be any harder for me afterwards. I had to fully concentrate to put him out. It’s a great way to end-up a season, but I hope that tomorrow I can have a decent slalom.”

“I think that I can easily compare this title with my Olympic gold medal in the combined. I had good results all season, and I’m especially pleased with the ones I had in giant slalom. I scored a series of great results including two podiums before finally winning at Kranjska Gora. I felt that I was skiing well the entire season and I had good vibes. I have been skiing fine in slalom too, I’m mostly doing well when I make it to the finish line.”

“I can’t say that I had dominated the season in this event, just the last races. I’m working on my skiing and I want to charge next seasons for the Overall. Yet this is a complete different challenge, you have to consistently race in five disciplines if you want to be in the game.”

“If my slalom and my giant slalom skiing would be at the same level, I could start with the speed discipline but I first want to be more consistent and efficient in slalom.”

“We’ll see what’s happening, I still have to improve my technique in downhill. I trained the speed events during two weeks in Chile last summer and I had a lot of races in downhill and Super-Gs this year. It was interesting to test my energy. I’ll train more and more in the future, but now I need to focus more on my slalom which is the most important to me.”

“Watching Lindsey Kildow and Bode Miller, what I achieved this year is nothing compared to them, but I’m happy to be a part of this.”

“I was so happy to share today’s great emotion with my parents who watched the races from the finish area. It’s nice to have them with me when it matters, they give me a lot of confidence.”