Park City's Ligety places 3rd at World Cup

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. — After two days of the Bode & Daron Show, Ted Ligety gave a glimpse of what the new generation of U.S. skiers can do.

Making the most of an aggressive approach on a tricky slope that got the best of reigning overall champion Bode Miller and many others, Ligety finished a career-best third Sunday in a World Cup slalom won by Giorgio Rocca of Italy.

The 21-year-old from Park City, Utah, capped a superb weekend for the American team, perhaps an indication of what to expect at the Turin Olympics in February. Veterans Daron Rahlves and Miller were first and second in Friday's downhill, then reversed that order in Saturday's giant slalom, where Erik Schlopy was fourth despite breaking his left hand.

"Seeing Bode and Daron go 1-2 both days, and seeing Erik Schlopy get fourth as well, is awesome. Today, unfortunately, Bode went out, and I thought I'd carry the torch," Ligety said, his bronze medal dangling from his neck. "It's a great accomplishment to have a podium pretty much every day here."

Miller skidded out about 20 seconds into his opening run in the season's first slalom. After pausing, he hiked back up to the gate he missed, then skied the rest of the course as a sort of practice session.

"It's just bad balance more than anything. But the combinations are incredibly close today," said Miller, third in the overall World Cup standings behind Aksel Lund Svindal and Rahlves. "They're really quick, which normally is good for me, but today I wasn't feeling very quick on my feet."

Eight of the first 20 skiers, and 28 of 74, failed to finish the opening run, including 2002 Olympic slalom gold medalist Jean-Pierre Vidal. Things were even tougher a couple of hours later.

"It's real easy to lay it on the line on a perfect hill, with a consistent surface, and every turn's the same," U.S. Ski Team men's technical coach Mike Morin said. "It's sweet to see a guy like Ted take some risks in conditions like that."

When Ligety crossed the line after his gutsy second run, he motioned to the loud fans in the stands, pushing his palms up as if to say, "Make some more noise!" A few minutes later, Ligety got more animated when he thought he might finish as high as fifth; his previous best showing in a World Cup race was eighth place in the season-opening giant slalom at Soelden, Austria.