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Ligety wins again on Birds of Prey; Vonn second in super-G at Lake Louise

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December 7, 2014, 5:05 pm
ted ligety

Ted Ligety seemed oblivious to his recent wrist injury, winning for the fifth consecutive time in a GS at Beaver Creek on Dec. 7. (Getty Images – Tom Pennington)

Ted Ligety destroyed the field, coming back from fourth in the first run to claim his fifth straight World Cup giant slalom victory on the Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek on Sunday. It was the 24th career win of the two-time Olympic gold medalist’s remarkable career, tying him for 13th on the all-time wins list.

At Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, on Sunday, Vail’s Lindsey Vonn climbed onto her second straight podium with a second-place finish in a World Cup super-G. Vonn won the 60th race of her career on Saturday, claiming a downhill at Lake Louise — her first win after a knee injury in 2013 that she re-injured in last season.

Ligety was also skiing injured after dislocating his wrist two weeks ago in training at Vail’s Golden Peak and undergoing surgery to insert four pins.

At Lake Louise, a day after leading a first-ever American podium sweep on Saturday, Vonn led an American charge in the super-G that also included Squaw Valley’s Julia Mancuso in sixth. Lara Gut of Switzerland took the win, and Tina Maze of Slovenia rounded out the podium in third.

Vonn, whose return to ski racing after her knee injury started Friday with an eight-place finish in the downhill, lamented her timing-based mistakes on the course on Sunday, saying, “It was a solid day and a phenomenal weekend for me.”

This was Vonn’s best super G finish since she won in St. Moritz in December, 2012.

“I felt like I was skiing aggressively and was pretty clean on the top, but my timing wasn’t quite right,” Vonn said. “I was late on some turns with my pressure. I carried pretty good speed on the flats, but my timing was off. For all my mistakes, I’m quite happy with second place.

“I just need a little more training. I’m going back to Vail and training at Beaver Creek and hope to be back in Val d’Isere. I’m a solid podium skier right now, but just need to get my timing back.”
Coming into the weekend Vonn was just hoping to crack into the top five.
“I am so happy with my results this weekend,” Vonn added. “It was so much more than I had hoped for. I didn’t really know what to expect coming in and I kept making improvements every day. I think it was all around a perfect weekend and a perfect way to start the season.”

Mancuso had a solid run, sitting in fifth for 15 racers, until Cornelia Huetter from Austria bumped her to sixth place overall. Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) and Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) also scored World Cup points, finishing in 23rd and 24th, respectively.

Katie Ryan (Aspen, CO) finished 42nd, Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO) 43rd, Jackie Wiles (Aurora, OR) 47th and Abby Ghent (Edwards) 52nd.

The women’s tour now heads to Are, Sweden, a replacement site from Courchevel, France, for a giant slalom and slalom. Vonn will remain at home in Vail to train, looking ahead to the next speed races the following weekend in Val d’Isere, snow permitting.