Heading into the 2014 Winter Olympics, American alpine skier Ted Ligety had won just about every possible medal in his signature event — giant slalom — but Olympic gold always remained just out of reach. That changed Wednesday.
Ligety, 29, took the gold medal in the men’s giant slalom in Sochi on Wednesday, capping his noted dominance in the event, which includes three World Cup season titles and two world championships. Ligety beat France’s Steve Missillier and Alexis Pinturault for the gold, and he became just the second U.S. alpine skier ever to win two Olympic gold medals. Ligety also won gold in the super combined at the 2006 Winter Games.
Ligety had a dominant first run Wednesday, holding a comfortable lead of 1.5 seconds over Ondrej Bank of the Czech Republic.
“I’m happy to ski the way I know I can ski,” Ligety said after that run, via The New York Times. “It’s a difficult course, but I had a plan that I executed.”
Ligety’s time on the second leg wound up being only 14th best out of all the competitors, but he had such a big lead from the first leg that it didn’t matter.
The gold medal win punctuates an otherwise disappointing Winter Games for Ligety, who finished 12th in the super combined and 14th in the super-G competition.
Ligety’s American teammate, Bode Miller, had a rough race Wednesday, finishing 20th.
Photo via Twitter/@JJOORVtve
