Park City native Ted Ligety wins World Championship

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany – Ted Ligety joined an exclusive club Friday when he won the World Championship in Giant Slalom in Germany.

Ligety's win made the Park City native one of only six Americans to win both an Olympic Gold medal and a World Championship Gold medal.

In fourth place after the first run, a phone call from another member of that club – Bode Miller – helped him ace the second run and earn the title.

"Obviously he'd won the run at that point," Ligety said of the second GS run. "He told me where I could really hammer and where I had to be smarter more tactical … and where the bumps were starting to form."

In this case, knowledge really was power.

Ligety used his own experience and Miller's breakdown of the course at Garmisch-Partenkirchen to edge France's Cyprien Richard by .08 seconds. Miller's second run had been so fast, he moved from 27th to 12th in the final standings.

Ligety celebrated at the finish, including talking with his parents, who were there to see their son claim the top prize.

"They're super psyched," he said with a laugh. "They get more emotional about my racing than I do. It's always fun when I can make them proud."

Ligety said before the race he didn't think winning a World Championship Gold could compare with the Gold medal he won in Combined in the 2006 Olympics.

"I still think that," Ligety said during a teleconference Friday. "An Olympic Gold medal is far more important than a World Championship medal, but winning a World Championship Medal still feels pretty good."

Ligety said he was most proud of winning the gold as the favorite.

"It's a lot different when you're racing as the big time favorite for sure," said Ligety, who won the first three GS races of the year and still leads the World Cup standings. "In 2006 I was a surprise…To be able to do that and succeed under those kinds of expectations is great for sure."

For him, it was a step forward in his evolution as one of the world's most accomplished skiers.

"I really haven’t crushed it when I was the favorite," he said. "So to be able to do that and succeed…was really cool."

Ligety doesn't have much of a celebration planned in the immediate future, as he wants to train get some training in for the World Championship Slalom race scheduled for Sunday.