U.S. men make a stand in GS

By USSA

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia — Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety (Park City) captured a historic giant slalom victory Saturday in Kranjska Gora to become the first man in Audi FIS Alpine World Cup history to have won six times at the same venue.

The stunning 23rd win of his career also moved Ligety within 50 points of Austrian Marcel Hirscher, who finished fourth, for the 2014 World Cup giant slalom title. The title will be decided March 15 at the World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

The down-to-the-wire World Cup Finals battle will be for the fifth World Cup giant slalom title of Ligety’s career.

Ligety opened a 0.42 second first run lead and then held on to win the race by 0.18 over Austrian Benjamin Raich. Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen was third ahead of Hirscher.

Tim Jitloff (Reno) finished a solid eighth to jump to 19th in the giant slalom standings and qualify for the top 25 World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide.

Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.) was 24th in the race and can also race the giant slalom at World Cup Finals because he has more than 500 World Cup points.

A slalom will be contested Sunday in Kranjska Gora to close the World Cup regular season.