It's full speed ahead

With fast rise, Ligety raising expectations

Only 24, US ski team member Ted Ligety (shown training this week in Beaver Creek, Colo., for a World Cup event) is the reigning FIS Giant Slalom champion. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. - It's clear these days that Ted Ligety, the 24-year-old anchor of the US men's ski team, is having a blast - and still blasting down the frozen slopes of World Cup with an eye to the 2010 Olympics at Vancouver.

Ligety, the reigning FIS Giant Slalom champion, began his season Oct. 26 with a slashing podium run (third) in Solden, Austria.

A good start, he says, which sets up the season with a note of confidence.

"It's sweet starting off the year on the podium," said Ligety. "It's a big pressure reliever because you're never really sure how fast you're going until the first race. It gives you that little extra piece of confidence. That makes skiing easier."

Though still young, Ligety comes into this weekend's World Cup as a leader of the men's team, stepping up last season into the vacuum created by the retirement of Darron Rahlves - who owned the Birds of Prey course - and the separation of Bode Miller from the team.

Not that he was an unknown. Ligety was just 21 when he cashed in on a mistake by Austria's Ben Raich and reached his first podium for third place in the Beaver Creek slalom in December 2005. He remembers the race as something of a career icebreaker.

Two weeks later, he had another bronze finish, then placed second a month later. So it was far from surprising when in February 2006, at the Olympic GS at Sestriere, Ligety broke through a storm of negative press surrounding the US Ski Team's poor showing with a gold medal finish.

He was matched by Julia Mancuso, a fellow high school alum at Park City's Winter Sports School, who took the women's gold on the Sestriere course. Along with Lindsey Vonn, Ligety and Mancuso have become genuine World Cup stars who raise podium expectations every time they race.

But as the World Cup season begins with its only North American venues (Aspen last weekend for women), Ligety says he is relaxed and confident.

"I'm just psyched for the season to be finally underway," said the 5-foot-11-inch, 180-pound Ligety. "There's a lot of pressure in the first couple of races and it's nice to get into a groove. Beaver Creek has always been a good hill for me and I'm looking forward to these races. In the past I've done third and fourth in GS here, and I know I have the speed to compete well in GS and slalom."

Known for his technical mastery, Ligety this summer trained with the speed team in Chile, hoping to round himself into a more complete, all-discipline racer with a shot at the overall title.

"I've been working on my speed [downhill, super-G] for the last few years," he said. "I'm still a little ways off from being fully competitive in [downhill]. But I hope to get there eventually to compete for the overall."

Last year, he placed 23d in super-G, a result he thinks he can improve on this year. Ligety said the Birds of Prey course, with its tough technical turns, helps racers like him - who are quicker and surer in turns but without the heft to gain speed on the flats.

The speed events, he said, will come as he develops. But this year, the goal is simple.

"The big goal this year is trying to defend my giant slalom title. I think I'm in a good position to do that. And I want to be at least top three in the slalom [title]. As far as speed events go, I hope to score points. Every World Cup race is important to the overall.

"I've been working on my gliding skills. When [the course] is steep and turny, there aren't very many guys who can beat me. But when it gets a little flatter and straighter I really need to work. Size is such an important factor, and I'm 40 pounds lighter that most speed skiers. That's a major disadvantage for me, but I can make definite improvements."

Ligety passed up last weekend's races at Whistler, British Columbia, partly because of travel fatigue, but mostly so he could train for the Beaver Creek giant slalom. Whether he's wearing a target as reigning GS world champion does not concern him.

"No, I'm just focused on skiing my race on this course. Luckily, ski racing is not a head-to-head sport, so I don't have to worry about other guys trying to beat me, I just have to focus on my race against the clock and be consistent and fast."

Ligety is still so young, so focused on his GS and slalom racing, that the speed end of the sport will just have to develop. Generally, downhillers are older, largely because of the experience they must acquire about different courses and the specific techniques necessary.

"The tough thing about balancing the speed side with technical racing is trying to maintain the training you need in slalom and GS, when in downhill you do three training runs and a race - which takes all week - and that takes focus away from technical races."

If Vonn is making a ski fashion statement by wearing a different, specially designed Spyder speed suit for every race, Ligety has also chimed in with his skiwear company, Shred fashions.

"It [the business] doesn't affect my racing," he said. "It's just something I like to have fun with. The difference between Lindsey and me is that she wears different stuff every day and I'm trying to get everyone to wear the same stuff as me."