Ted Ligety
 Ligety in January 2008 |
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| Disciplines | Downhill, Super-G, Giant slalom, Slalom, Combined |
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| Club | Park City Ski Ed Fndn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | August 31, 1984 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
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| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup debut | November 22, 2003 (age 19) |
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| Website | TedLigety.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 2 – (2006-10) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 1 (1 gold) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 4 – (2005-11) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 2 (1 gold) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 8th - (2005-12) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 10 – (10 GS) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Podiums | 28 – (1 SG, 21 GS, 6 SL) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall titles | 0 – (5th – 2008) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline titles | 3 – (3 GS) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Theodore Sharp "Ted" Ligety (born August 31, 1984, in Salt Lake City, Utah) is a champion alpine ski racer from the United States. He was the 2006 Olympic gold medalist in combined and the three-time World Cup champion in giant slalom (2008, 2010 and 2011). Ligety won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships. Through January 2012, he has ten victories (all in giant slalom), 28 podiums, and 77 top-ten finishes in World Cup competition.[1]
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[edit] Career
Growing up in Park City, Utah, Ligety began skiing at two and racing at ten. He attended The Winter Sports School and graduated in 2002. He was named to the U.S. Skiing Development Team and won a silver medal in slalom in the Junior World Cup in 2004. He made his first start in a World Cup event during the 2004 World Cup season in the giant slalom at Park City, and he was added to the U.S. Ski Team full-time in the 2005 season, during which he had four top-15 finishes in slalom, placing 24th overall in the discipline.
[edit] 2006 Season
Ligety recorded his first World Cup podium finish in the first slalom of the season, at Beaver Creek in December, and followed that up with a second and a third during the next three slaloms. Ligety's first major victory of his professional career came at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, held at Sestriere. Ligety won the gold medal in the men's combined event, a major upset after the two racers favored to win the event failed to finish the slalom portion. At age 21, he became the first American man to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing in a dozen years, since Tommy Moe won the downhill at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Ligety also became just the fourth American male skier to win Olympic gold, along with Moe, Phil Mahre (slalom, 1984) and Bill Johnson (downhill, 1984). At Turin, Ligety also participated in the giant slalom and the slalom, but he failed to complete either event. Following his Olympic victory in the combined, Ligety recorded his first World Cup victory, a win in the giant slalom in Yongpyeong, South Korea. He finished ninth in the overall World Cup standings for the year, marking the first time that three American men had placed in the top 10 (along with Bode Miller in third and Daron Rahlves in fourth), despite the fact that he did not compete in downhill or Super G that year.
[edit] 2007 season
In the summer of 2006, Ligety changed his ski supplier from Völkl to Rossignol.[2] With Rahlves' retirement, Ligety began to compete in all five events. However, he managed only two podium finishes during the season, a second in slalom and a third in giant slalom. Disappointingly, he had three fourth place finishes, one in giant slalom, one in super combined, and one in the World Cup finals downhill, as well as a fourth place finish in the giant slalom at the 2007 World Championships in Åre, Sweden, missing a medal by 0.07 seconds. He finished eleventh overall in 2007.
[edit] 2008 season
Ligety won his first World Cup season title in the giant slalom in 2008, and finished fifth in the overall standings. He won the final two giant slaloms of the year at Kranjska Gora and Bormio to edge out two-time defending champion Benjamin Raich of Austria for the season title. He also recorded four other podium finishes: a second and a third in giant slalom and two third places in slalom. In addition to his title, Ligety ranked seventh in combined and ninth in slalom.
[edit] 2009 season
Ligety opened defense of his 2008 giant slalom title with a third place finish in Sölden, Austria, and then placed second at Beaver Creek, Colorado. At the 2009 World Championships in Val d'Isère, France, Ligety took the bronze medal in the giant slalom, then won his fourth World Cup race at Kranjska Gora. He finished the season with another second at the finals in Åre, Sweden, which left him ranked third in GS and ninth overall for the season.
[edit] 2010 season
Ligety notched his fifth World Cup victory in January, his third win at Kranjska Gora in as many seasons. At the finals in Garmisch, Germany, he finished on the podium to secure his second season title in giant slalom, and finished seventh in the overall standings.
At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics at Whistler, he finished ninth in the giant slalom and fifth in the super-combined; he was fifteenth in the downhill portion and first in the one slalom run to finish a half-second out of the medals.
[edit] 2011 season
After racing for four seasons on Rossignol skis, Ligety switched his equipment supplier to Head in the summer of 2010,[3] as fellow American champions Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller did in previous seasons. Ligety won his sixth World Cup race in December 2010, his first win on home snow in the U.S., taking the giant slalom by a substantial 0.82 seconds at Beaver Creek, Colorado, the site of his first podium five years earlier. It was the first World Cup victory in the U.S. (and North America) by an American male in four years; the last was by Bode Miller in the downhill at Beaver Creek in December 2006. Six days later, Ligety won the next GS race in Val d'Isère, France, by over a full second.[4] He won his third consecutive GS race at Alta Badia, Italy, the following week.
In February he won his first world championship, taking gold in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Fourth after the first run, Ligety won by 0.08 seconds over Cyprien Richard of France.[5] He won his third season title in giant slalom in 2011.[6]
[edit] Other achievements
Ligety has won six national championships, putting him behind the all-time record of nine, held by Bode Miller and Tiger Shaw.
Following his Olympic gold medal at Turin, he started Shred Optics in 2006; Ligety designs all the products and uses them himself.
The company produces ski goggles, sunglasses, and helmets.
Ligety served as the Director of Skiing for the now-bankrupt Mt. Holly Club, a private luxury ski and golf resort in southwestern Utah.
It is located in eastern Beaver County, on the site of the former Elk Meadows ski area (1971–84).[7][8]
[edit] World Cup victories
[edit] Season titles
- 3 titles - (3 GS)
| Season | Discipline |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Giant Slalom |
| 2010 | Giant Slalom |
| 2011 | Giant Slalom |
[edit] Individual races
| Season | Date | Location | Race |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 5 Mar 2006 |  Yongpyong, South Korea |
Giant Slalom |
| 2008 | 8 Mar 2008 |  Kranjska Gora, Slovenia |
Giant Slalom |
| 14 Mar 2008 |  Bormio, Italy |
Giant Slalom | |
| 2009 | 28 Feb 2009 | Kranjska Gora, Slovenia |
Giant Slalom |
| 2010 | 29 Jan 2010 | Kranjska Gora, Slovenia |
Giant Slalom |
| 2011 | 5 Dec 2010 |  Beaver Creek, USA |
Giant Slalom |
| 11 Dec 2010 |  Val d'Isère, France |
Giant Slalom | |
| 19 Dec 2010 | Alta Badia, Italy |
Giant Slalom | |
| 2012 | 23 Oct 2011 |  Sölden, Austria |
Giant Slalom |
| 6 Dec 2011 | Beaver Creek, USA |
Giant Slalom |
[edit] References
- ^ "Ted Ligety U.S.A.: Facts and Figures". Ski-Db.com. Matteo Pacor. http://www.ski-db.com/db/profiles/534562.asp. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ Denver Post – Ted Ligety – 2006-10-24 – accessed 2010-12-05
- ^ Sports Illustrated – 2010-12-03 – accessed 2010-12-05
- ^ The Salt Lake Tribune – Ligety wins 2nd straight WC GS – 2010-12-11 – accessed 2010-12-11
- ^ Ski Racing.com – Gold medal for USA’s Ted Ligety – 2011 World Championships – 2011-02-18
- ^ Dunbar, Graham (March 18, 2011). "Ted Ligety wins World Cup giant slalom title". Forbes. Associated Press (Forbes.com LLC). http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/03/18/sports-ski-men-apos-s-world-cup_8362776.html. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
- ^ Colorado Ski History.com – Utah – Elk Meadows / Mt. Holly – accessed 2010-06-06
- ^ The Salt Lake Tribune – Elk Meadows ski resort on auction block – 2009-11-09
[edit] External links
- Ted Ligety at the International Ski Federation
- FIS-ski.com – Ted Ligety – World Cup season standings
- Ski-db.com – Ted Ligety – results
- U.S. Ski Team.com – profile – Ted Ligety
- Sports Reference.com - Olympic results - Ted Ligety
- Head.com - team - athletes - Ted Ligety
- Ted Ligety.com – personal site
- Shred Optics.com – company
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- American alpine skiers
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics
- Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics
- Olympic alpine skiers of the United States
- Sportspeople from Salt Lake City, Utah
- American people of Hungarian descent
- 1984 births
- Living people
- Olympic medalists in alpine skiing
