Healthy Ligety’s goal: Win races

Legendary giant slalom racer hasn’t won World Cup event since 2015

BEAVER CREEK» His face showed little expression as he glided his way down the hill. This was serious business — no laughing, smiling or crying.

With his two-time Olympic gold medalist father holding on, 17-month-old Jax Ligety took his first trek down the slope a few months ago. The look: pure determination.

It’s a look Ted Ligety knows all too well. He’s that determined to return to the top.

For years, Ligety has been plagued by knee and back issues. Now healthier than he’s been in a while, Ligety’s attempting to rediscover the giant slalom form that allowed him to win an Olympic gold medal (2014 Sochi Games), capture five World Cup titles in the discipline and challenge Austrian standout Marcel Hirscher.

“I don’t know if I’m the Ted of 2012, which was pretty fast,” said Ligety, who plans to compete in the super-G and GS this weekend in Beaver Creek. “That’s definitely where I’m shooting for, though. I feel like it’s getting to the point where I can start winning races again. That’s the goal right now.”

His last World Cup victory was Oct. 25, 2015, in Austria — before he frayed the cartilage in his hip, tore the ACL in his right knee and strained his back to the point where the 34year-old from Park City, Utah, needed seasonending surgery in January 2017 to fix herniated disks. There was promise last season, with a third-place showing in Germany just before the Pyeongchang Games last February.

But his GS title defense at the Olympics didn’t go as planned as he finished tied for 15th place in a race won by Hirscher. Ligety did take fifth during the combined, also won by Hirscher.

As an experience, Ligety described Pyeongchang as “fun” with his wife, Mia, Jax and his family in attendance.

As a racer, not so much.

“I was there to compete and go for medals and came up a little short in the combined and vastly underperformed in the giant slalom,” said Ligety, who captured Olympic gold in the combined at the 2006 Turin Games. “It’s not the way I would’ve liked to have things to go down in the Olympics.”

These days, he’s all about family time. His wife and son travel with him as often as possible. Ligety gave his son his first taste of skiing at a New Zealand venue in August.

“I definitely want him to be a skier. Do I want him to be a ski racer? If he wants to. It’s not something I would ever push on him,” Ligety said. “A big part of my life is skiing. I want him to ski race at least when he’s younger so he has that base. But I wouldn’t push him beyond just going out there and having fun with friends.”

There was a time when his rivals used to refer to him as “Mr. GS” for his dominance in the event. Ligety had a stretch where he captured three straight world championship GS titles and another during the 2013 season when he won six of eight races in the event.

But injuries took a toll on him.

This summer, though, he went through something he hasn’t in quite a while — a customary prep period. For once, he wasn’t rehabbing an injury. He actually got to train.

“High volume, too,” Ligety said. “I’m feeling good.”