Utah skiers are doing well in World Cup competition

In a review of the World Cup ski racing thus far, Park City's Ted Ligety is doing well, Steve Nyman of Provo is having trouble finishing races and Bode Miller admitted his skiing isn't as sharp as it should be and is struggling.

Utah's corps of World Cup skiers, though, is doing well.

Ligety is the current World Cup leader in the giant slalom. This past weekend, despite a poor bib number to start, No. 46, he was able to leapfrog over 41 earlier skiers and finish fifth, much to the surprise of many.

The Park City skier should have been in the first seed or among the first 15 out of the gate for the first GS run, but he arrived late for the bib drawing in Alta Badia, Italy, and was penalized.

His time on his first run moved to 10th.

He said of his first run that it was, "pretty bumpy, starting at the back like that, and my run was pretty crappy. I was 1.6 (seconds) back."

He smoothed it out on his second run, even though it was a reverse start for the top 30. It was, he said, "tough to battle back from that far out to start, but I went for it."

In the overall standings, after four giant slaloms, Ligety has 235 points to 212 for Austria's Benjamin Raich and 200 for Finland's Kalle Palander.

Park City's Erik Schlopy was 28th in that race.

U.S. Ski Team coach Sasha Rearick said Ligety made mistakes on the top and bottom of the first run, "but then on the second run, he demonstrated how he's one of the fastest guys in his sport. He pulled himself together in the second run and showed us why he's wearing the red bib (which signifies No. 1). He was on fire."

Rearick also said there was no protest about Ligety's put-back in the start order. "A rule is a rule, and everyone knows this rule. Ted took his penalty, and we've learned to be on time, and we're moving forward," he said.

Miller did not finish the first run in this race.

In a downhill race last Saturday, Nyman fell. T.J. Lanning of Park City started in the 54th position and finished 31st. Miller finished eighth.

Miller had his best finish, a second in the super G last Friday. He is the defending super G World Cup champion. This was his first podium finish of the season. Last year, Miller had three firsts before the holiday season.

He said in an earlier news conference that his skis had been running well, but he hadn't been executing sharply enough to break onto the podium.