Park City's Ted Ligety "is on another level" on the slopes

Even then, Svindal can't catch up to Ligety in the giant slalom. No one can.

"He is the fastest GS skier right now," said Hirscher, who's currently third in the overall standings as the race circuit heads to Val d'Isere, France, for giant slalom and slalom this weekend. "He should ski two or three gates more than the other skiers."

To be a bona fide contender, Ligety acknowledged he must beef up his other events.

"Ted has the ability to ski all events, which puts him in the class where he can accumulate enough points," U.S. men's coach Sasha Rearick said. "But we still have a lot of work to get there. We have to be more consistent in the slalom. There's a lot of work to do in terms of the downhill and the super-G, just to learn to read certain parts of the hill better to carry more speed.

"And he has to maintain where he is at the top of world in GS, because the rest of those guys are going to figure out how to shave time off the hill to try and catch up to him."

What does Ligety think of his chances for an overall crown?

"I'm right in there right now, but we're a long way off," Ligety said. "If I can keep this momentum going, I have a decent chance."

Pat Graham can be reached on Twitter at twitter.com/pgraham34