Ligety finally appears healthy
Two-time gold medalist took long road back to slopes.
Over the summer and into the fall, Ted Ligety’s long road back was starting to appear headed for an unforgiving dead end. Injuries and time away from the hill had taken their toll, and Ligety looked nothing like the skier who’d raced in three Olympics, who’d won two gold medals and posted 25 World Cup victories in his decorated career.
“He had missed so much training that his rhythm and timing was off,” said Sasha Rearick, head coach for the U.S. men’s alpine team. “I’m not going to lie. In August, his skiing was not in his top form, by far. There was a lot of steps we had to take.”
Ligety had missed most of the previous two seasons because of injuries: a knee in 2016 and his back in 2017. With little time to prepare for the Pyeongchang Games, Ligety and his coaches agreed he needed to take a step back, focusing on gentler runs. Rearick likened it to a weekend skier who needs to progress from easier green runs to expert-level blacks.
“That’s one of the reasons why Ted is such a champion: He knows that going back and getting those fundamental rhythms down are essential for his performance,” Rearick said.
Ligety slowly started to find his groove, and on Jan. 28, in his last race before the Winter Games, he reached the podium again in the giant slalom, the first time in more than two years. The thirdplace finish in Germany, he hopes, bodes well for these Olympics, where Ligety likely represents the U.S. men’s team’s best chance at a medal.
“It was good to be back in a spot where I feel like I can
for wins,” he said. Ligety is suddenly the face of the U.S. men’s alpine team. These Pyeongchang Games mark the first Olympics since 1994 without Bode Miller, now retired and working as an NBC analyst. Travis Ganong, a silver medalist from the 2015 world championships, tore an anterior cruciate ligament last month, and Steven Nyman, a veteran of three Olympics, tore an ACL in a training run on Jan. 25, one day after he was named to the Pyeongchang-bound team.
Ligety is ranked No. 37 in the World Cup overall standings, the top-ranked American male. At No. 45, The Americans have 12 men altogether on their Olympic alpine team. Only Ligety has found the podium this year.
Ligety looked like a dark horse for much of the World Cup season. Coaches felt like he started to find his rhythm as the new year approached, cracking the top 10 in two World Cup stops in December.
Finally, in his last chance before Pyeongchang, he broke through. The thirdplace finish was a big relief.
“That’s a step in the right direction,” Ligety said Tuesday. “There’s still some ground that needs to be gained to reach that next couple steps above that.”
Ligety is 33 now, and no longer the giant slalom racer with the target on his back. Austria’s mighty Marcel Hirscher is the favorite every time he sets foot on the mountain.
“I feel like I’m skiing well,” Ligety said. “Am I skiing at the highest level I ever have? It’s hard to say . . . . I feel like I’m getting close to that.”