Ligety savors a close second

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. - Ted Ligety came within one-100th of a second of pulling a huge win out of a mediocre weekend for United States skiers, but when the snow spray cleared after the World Cup giant slalom finale on the Birds of Prey course, the Olympic gold medalist was still smiling.

"I'm skiing well," said Ligety. "My speed is good right now. And I got a second here."

Oh, but what might have been.

Ligety won the morning run handily, leading the field by more than a half-second.

In giant slalom, the top 30 finishers of the first run are flipped, with the fastest skiers from the first run going last.

So, when Austria's Benny Raich came from sixth place on his first run to post the fastest time in the second, the huge crowd - many of them from Europe - roared with expectation as the big guns took aim at Raich's time.

First came the top Europeans such as Swiss racers Didier Cuche and Carlo Janka. They placed in the top 10 but failed to dislodge the leader.

The noise intensified as Bode Miller locked into the start gate, looked down the track, and blasted into the first few gates.

That was about all the reigning overall World Cup champ from Franconia, N.H., would complete yesterday. In a section called Golden Eagle, a sudden steep face, Miller accelerated to high speed and tried to turn on his right ski, but it didn't bite.

Miller, who failed to finish two of the three races here, slid down onto his left side and sprawled off the course.

The only race he completed - Saturday's super-G - Miller slipped onto his left hip, recovered just long enough to go down on the right side, and finished 14th.

Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, who won the downhill and super-G, took his shot at Raich's time and skied well, but had to settle for third.

The last skier with a chance to catch Raich, a former overall World Cup champion, was Ligety, who surprised himself Saturday by finishing seventh in the super-G, the best of his career in the event.

But giant slalom is Ligety's forte, and he swung through the top gates appearing to attack the course.

Then he dropped down Golden Eagle, avoided the gate that claimed Miller, and registered a half-second lead over Raich, drawing a roar from the crowd.

Ligety began winding through the lower, straighter part of the course smoothly, making no errors and raising expectations that he'd be able to hold on to his half-second lead.

Only detailed videotape study will reveal where Ligety's skis were giving up that time, but when he tripped the finish, he was .01 seconds slow, which translates to a few inches after a mile of skiing.

"I don't know, maybe I was just holding on to the turns a little too long," said Ligety.

"The top of the course is very turny and I like that," he said. "The bottom half gets straight, and that's not my best kind of course. I like to turn."

The weekend's big winner was Svindal, who left Beaver Creek with two firsts and a third, after ending his season here last year with a spectacular downhill training crash.

"I thought I was skiing well [before], but after this weekend, I know I can try for [the overall World Cup title]," he said.

At Lake Louise, Alberta, Nadia Fanchini of Italy won the season-opening super giant slalom on the women's circuit for her first World Cup victory. American Lindsey Vonn, the defending overall World Cup and downhill champion, was ninth.

Fanchini won in 1:20.97, edging Fabienne Suter of Switzerland and Andrea Fischbacher of Austria, who shared second in 1:21.25.