Ligety back against odds to defend giant slalom ‘crown’

Merryweather wins late call-up

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, Feb 4, (Agencies): Against all the odds, reigning Olympic giant slalom ski champion Ted Ligety is grasping the chance to defend his crown after battling back from knee and back injury.

“I want to be where I was at my peak,” Ligety said ahead of the February 9-25 Pyeongchang Winter Games. “I feel good about my skiing. I’m just not sure where my speed is.”

The 33-year-old American has won three world titles and five World Cup crowns in giant slalom after taking his first Olympic gold medal in 2006 in the combined event.

But Ligety hasn’t won a World Cup race since October 2015 at the season opener in Solden, Austria. In January 2016 he tore his right anterior cruciate knee ligament and missed the remainder of the season.

Alice Merryweather was given a late ticket to the Pyeongchang Olympics on Saturday as a quota replacement for injured downhiller Steven Nyman on the US Alpine ski team.

Team veteran Nyman, 35, suffered a season-ending knee injury during downhill training last month in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Merryweather, 21, won the women’s downhill gold medal at last year’s FIS Junior World Ski Championships and has been competing in the World Cup this season.

She finished 37th in Saturday’s Garmisch downhill, won by US team mate Lindsey Vonn – the 80th World Cup win of her career.

Merryweather’s addition brings the US Olympic team up to a record 243 athletes.

American ski racer Jacqueline Wiles has been ruled out of this month’s Winter Olympics after sustaining serious leg injuries in a crash during a World Cup downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on Saturday.

The 25-year-old fractured her left fibula and tibia and suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament, according to German media reports.

The race was won by Wiles’ team mate Lindsey Vonn.

“We are all extremely disappointed that Jackie suffered this injury so close to the Games,” said Luke Bodensteiner, US Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport, in a statement.

South Korean fans chanting, “We are one” and wearing shirts with the unification flag emblazoned on the front packed into a freezing ice hockey

Supporters cheer during a women’s ice hockey practice match between Sweden and a Unified Korean team in Incheon on Feb 4, ahead of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic

Games. (AFP)

arena on Sunday to cheer on the joint Korean women’s team in a tune-up for this month’s Winter Olympics.

North and South Korea agreed last month to field a combined women’s ice hockey team and march together under one flag in Pyeongchang after a new round of talks amid a thaw in crossborder relations.

With some 3,000 fans packed into Seonhak International Ice Rink in Incheon, the Koreans, who have only practiced together for a week, lost 3-1 to Sweden.

While the result was a disappointment, hopes are high that the unified team could help improve ties.

“I am excited,” said Park Cheolhyun, who came to watch the game with his wife and son.

“Even though the nuclear issue may not be resolved immediately, it will be good for the longer term if the two Koreas get closer. Otherwise, there is no way to resolve it.”

Fresh doping scandal on eve of Olympics: More than 50 cross-country skiers set to race at the Winter Olympics, which opens on Friday, have returned suspicious blood data at least once in their careers, according to a report.

The Sunday Times in London and German broadcaster ARD say they received a database of around 10,000 blood tests from 2,000 cross-country skiers taken between 2001 and 2010, before the introduction of biological passports. They report that a total of 290 showed abnormal readings.

The Sunday Times said: “The database was leaked by a whistleblower with serious concerns about the integrity of the Games.”

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, Feb 4, (AFP): US ski queen Lindsey Vonn says things ‘couldn’t be better’ ahead of the Olympics after claiming her 81st World Cup win on Sunday to complete the downhill double at GarmischPartenkirchen in the final races before the Winter Games.

Vonn clocked one minute, 37.92 seconds with Italy’s Sofia Goggia, the current overall downhill leader, just behind in second at 0.11 secs back.

Tina Weirather of Lichtenstein was third at 0.12 secs.

Vonn also pipped Goggia in Saturday’s downhill in Garmisch to give her the perfect warm-up before the Pyeongchang Games.

She has won the last three downhill races on the World Cup circuit after also claiming victory in Cortina d’Ampezzo a fortnight ago.

“Two wins here is as good as it gets,” beamed Vonn.

“It has been a perfect weekend, with the timing of Cortina as well.

“This is the exact preparation I was hoping for going into South Korea.

“I feel really good mentally and physically.

“My equipment is working well, my preparation is perfect — things couldn’t be better going into the Olympics.”

The Winter Olympics open on Thursday where Vonn will be gunning for gold in South Korea after missing the 2014 Sochi Games with injury.

Vonn will race in the downhill, super-G and combined as she chases her first Olympic medals since downhill gold and super-G bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Lindsey Vonn of the US competes in the Ladies’ Downhill event at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in GarmischPartenkirchen, southern Germany on Feb 4. (AFP)

However, Goggia does not plan to let Vonn have her own way after two narrow downhill defeats this weekend behind the American.

“I hope it won’t be like that after the Olympics downhill,” said Goggia, who is now just 23 points ahead of Vonn in the overall downhill rankings.

“I am happy with two solid races and two good times, especially after I crashed in Cortina a fortnight ago.”

The women’s Olympic alpine programme starts with the giant slalom on Feb 12 while the downhill — the

blue-riband event — is on Feb 21.

Vonn says it will be “all or nothing” on the Jeongseon course.

Vonn’s 81st win edges her closer to Inge Stenmark’s all-time alpine record of 86 World Cup victories, but retirement is clearly on her mind.

“You get a little greedy when you keep winning, you want to win more,” she added.

“For sure, I will ski another season and then I will see how high I can get the number.

“It’s not easy to win, especially

International Olympic Committee (IOC), president Thomas Bach smiles during a press conference ahead of the opening of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang on Feb 4. (AFP)

with people like Tina and Sofia skiing so well.

“I know I can continue to win, I just don’t know for how long.”

In total, the 33-year-old has now won the downhill at Garmisch five times with her 2018 double following wins in 2012, 2016 and 2017.

Despite Vonn’s double success here, the Kandahar course claimed three US racers this weekend.

Stacey Cook crashed on Sunday after double falls on Saturday when Laurenne Ross fell fall and Jacqueline Wiles suffered a double broken leg and torn knee ligaments.

Vonn has now won nine times in Garmisch, eight of which came on the Kandahar course.

She always enjoys vocal support racing here, partly due to the town’s US Army base, and often spent Christmas here with retired ex-world champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch.

Despite her impressive record in Garmisch, Vonn insists the twisting, icy Kandahar does her few favours.

“This course doesn’t actually suit my technique, but despite that, I know where I can pick up speed and I always try to find the right line,” she admitted.

“But it’s one of the hardest courses on the circuit for me.

“It’s a very bumpy course, with lots of right turns, which doesn’t help my bad right knee,” which she injured in 2014.

“It’s very flat at the top and I don’t glide well, but I know where I can gain speed.”