Super weekend in Slovenia

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia -- Tucked away in northwestern Slovenia's Julian Mountains, the town of Kranjska Gora has been hosting major international ski racing events for nearly 50-years. For Park City, Utah's Ted Ligety, it must seem like a second home. Never mind that the two ski towns are nearly 5600 miles apart.

Ligety, who has sped to giant slalom victories the past two seasons in the Slovenian resort, made it three-for-three on the Podkoren piste this past Friday. The 25-year-old racer trailed Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal by just .01 heading into the afternoon run. Ligety carved some of his best turns this season, holding off Austria's Marcel Hirscher and surpassing Svindal to nab the top spot by .34.

It was Ligety's fifth career World Cup victory and third in Kranjska Gora.

In Saturday's second GS, the American sat fourth after the first run. Once again charging hard on the familiar slope, Ligety posted the fourth fastest time in the afternoon run. He moved up to claim third, his second podium in two days, just behind Norway's Kjetil Jansrud and Hirscher.

"It's definitely nice to have the win and podium here," said Ligety after his third- place finish Saturday. "It helps the confidence. I'm skiing well. It's almost good to get third today to keep the fire and motivation going. I don't want to get too complacent. I still need to work at it and go hard to win a medal at the Olympics."

The 2006 Olympic combined gold medalist from Torino, will compete in all alpine disciplines except downhill in Vancouver.

Ligety also moved to the top of the giant slalom standings after six of seven races. He leads Italy's Max Blardone, 352-309. Hirscher climbed to third with 306. The Utah resident also stands seventh in the overall standings.

"It's very nice to still have the red bib building my lead on Blardone, but then obviously losing a little bit to Marcel," said Ligety. "It's nice to have a 43-point lead. It's a healthy lead, but not a safe lead by any means. I'm definitely psyched but it's far from over."

Ligety, the 2007-'08 giant slalom champion, will seek his second event title at the final GS race of the season come World Cup finals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in mid-March.

For now, "Shred" and his neon green racing helmet have some other business at hand in the land of Molson, ice hockey and Bryan Adams.

Tommy's Triumphs

Twenty-year-old American Tommy Ford skied solidly in Friday's giant slalom finishing 21st. It's been a stellar week for the Bend, Oregon native as he also found out this past Tuesday that he was selected to his first U.S. Olympic team.

"I'm excited about making the second run and the Olympics," said Ford. "I've been working hard for this my whole life and it's great to actually be able to achieve these things. It's a relief and a surprise to have made it."

Ford is one of seven first-timers on the men's U.S. Olympic ski team. The others are Washington's Will Brandenburg, 23, Idaho's Erik Fisher, 24, Nevada's Tim Jitloff, 25, Vermont's Nolan Kasper, 20, Lake Placid's Andrew Weibrecht, 24, and Aspen's Jake Zamansky, 28.

Flying Hirscher

At just age 20, Austria's Marcel Hirscher is rapidly establishing himself as one of the world's best technical skiers and rising stars on tour. With his patented, attacking style, Hirscher blew away his fellow competitors in the second run of Saturday's GS. He vaulted from fifth place, .47 seconds off the lead, to his second career World Cup victory.

"I pushed really hard and I think it was perfect," said Hirscher about his second run. "It was an awesome feeling."

His time of 1:12.91, was seven-tenths faster than Ligety, who finished third and the American was the closest to the Austrian of the four racers leading Hirscher after the morning run.

"Taking risks is a lot of fun for me," said Hirscher. "When I risk everything I am fast because I am a small guy, only 73-kilos. I have to risk everything and push it harder than some of the other guys. More risk, more fun for me."

"La Bomba" Appearance

Italian fan-favorite Alberto Tomba, who won five-times in Kranjska Gora during his illustrious career made a guest appearance this weekend watching the races alongside his fellow Italians in the finish area.

"It's great to be back in Kranjska Gora," said Tomba. "The people still love me here."

Tomba's longtime public relations assistant, Roberto Brunner currently works for the Austrian ski team. After Marcel Hirscher's come from behind victory on Saturday, the young Austrian was queried about what the Italian superstar had said to him.

"He just said, ‘amazing' and that was enough," said a smiling Hirscher.

Herbst Wins Fourth

Austrian slalom specialist Reinfried Herbst definitively established himself as the Olympic favorite, capturing his fourth World Cup win of the season in Slovenia on Sunday. The 31-year-old, who won silver at the 2006 Olympics, was the class of the field winning by four-tenths over his teammate Hirscher.

"It's been a great season and I am in a good situation," said Herbst. "Today was hard. The second run was very bumpy and the snow was difficult. I saw that the racers in front of me had troubles and lost a lot of time, so I knew I needed the perfect run to get on the podium. I had the right feeling to attack and it was a good second run."

The Austrian will spend five days in Los Angeles soaking up the sun and riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle before heading north to Vancouver for the Olympics.

Hirscher's second run performance was astounding as he catapulted himself from 15th after the morning run to finish second. It was his third podium in three days in Kranjska Gora.

"It's an amazing weekend," said Hirscher.

Untimely Swiss Timing

Just one weekend after his impressive Kitzbuehel downhill and super-G victories, Switzerland's Didier Cuchebroke his right thumb in a nasty crash near the bottom of Friday's giant slalom run.

The super-G World Champion immediately was taken to a Zurich hospital where he underwent surgery on Saturday. The 35-year-old Swiss skier was fixed with a titianium plate to stabilize the injury (see photos).

According to Swiss Ski Team spokesperson, Diana Fah, Cuche will be fitted with a custom designed splint and should be ready to compete and contend for medals at the Olympics. She said he is optimistic, but will not ski again until downhill training begins on Whistler Mountain a few days prior to the Opening Ceremony on Friday, February 12th.

Raich is Ready

Austria's Benjamin Raich will enter the Vancouver Olympics trying to defend both his giant slalom and slalom gold medals from 2006. Tomba is the only racer to ever repeat Olympic victories in giant slalom and Raich will try to become the first to accomplish the feat in slalom.

In Kranjska Gora, the current World Cup leader was respectable, yet far from spectacular. He finished eleventh, sixth and sixth in the three races.

"I skied very well today so I'm happy about that," said Raich after the slalom. "I feel good, but I'm tired. This week I will have a good recovery. Then I will have good training and preparation for the Olympics."

Raich leads Switzerland's Carlo Jankain the overall standings 1007-897 with seven World Cup races in Norway and Germany remaining.

Dane's Final Stand

Thirteen-year U.S. Ski Team veteran Dane Spencer entered the start gate for what was most likely his last World Cup appearance in Saturday's GS.

The 32-year-old Idaho native suffered a bad crash in Montana in February of 2006, one that many thought would end his career. He persevered, recovered and made it back to World Cup racing the following year.

Spencer is planning to compete in a few more Europa Cup races, but Saturday was his World Cup finale. He failed to qualify for the second run, but it was great to see him fighting his way down the slopes for the U.S. Ski Team one more time.

Canada's Big Show, Eh?

The alpine events at the big show in the "Great White North" kick off on February 13th with the marquee men's Olympic downhill. Downhill training is scheduled to begin three days prior on Wednesday, February 10th.

Coming off his second-place performance at the "Lauberhorn" Downhill in Wengen, Canada's Manuel Osborne-Paradis appears to be their greatest hope for a medal in the speed events. Whistler native, Michael Janyk has been relatively consistent in slalom and should contend for a medal, as he did at last season's World Championships in Val d'Isere, claiming bronze.

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