Ligety bows out in giant slalom

TORINO, Italy — Ted Ligety was too fast for his own good in the Olympic giant slalom race Monday at Sestriere, skiing off course at a blistering pace on his first run and failing to qualify into the next round.

But even at that, he managed to strike fear into the world's best skiers at the Torino Olympics.

The 21-year-old from Park City had the fastest time on the GS course until he missed a gate about halfway down. He was seven-hundredths of a second faster than anyone else. It was that kind of speed that earned the Olympic rookie a gold medal in the downhill/slalom combined last week, and it's that kind of speed that has made him a marked man for the Olympic slalom race this Saturday.

"It should be an exciting event," said Jesse Hunt, U.S. alpine director. "I think he's obviously shown the world he can ski some really fast slalom."

"My GS is not that strong yet that I can afford to be so aggressive," Ligety said. "I just went too direct and went out. It's definitely difficult conditions for sure."

Ligety was one of 34 entrants in a field of 80 who skied off course on the first GS run, contested on an icy track covered with a coat of new snow. U.S. teammate Daron Rahlves also failed to make it to the second run.

The highest U.S. overall finisher was Bode Miller, who tied for sixth.

Park City resident Erik Schlopy placed 13th. He was 17th after the first run. It was the highest Olympic finish for the veteran racer who was 34th in GS in the Lillehammer Olympics and failed to finish the GS in Salt Lake. He was also 14th in the slalom in Salt Lake.

Austria's Benjamin Raich won the giant slalom gold medal — the third straight Olympics the GS trophy has gone to an Austrian. He was followed by France's Joel Chenal and Austrian Herman Maier. Raich was in fourth place after the opening run and then claimed gold with the fastest run of the second round. First-run leader Francois Bourque of Canada faded to fourth overall.

Saturday's slalom will be the final men's alpine event of the Games. The heavy favorite is Giorgio Rocca of Italy, who has won every World Cup slalom he has entered this season — five in all. Rocca did not race in the giant slalom but in the combined he finished fifth, with a slalom time that was not as fast as Ligety.

With one second place and two third place finishes in world slalom races this season, Ligety ranks No. 3, one place ahead of Raich.

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E-mail: lbenson@desnews.com