Ted Ligety is on fire.
The Park City-born U.S. Ski Team member and reigning World Cup giant slalom champion won his second straight giant slalom race on the World Cup circuit over the Saturday in Val d’Isere, France.
The 26 year old dominated one of the circuit’s most difficult tracks in the Bellvarde. The win has Ligety in second place in the overall standings behind Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway.
Svindal finished 1.05 seconds behind Ligety in the giant slalom. Ligety’s second-straight win has him just 15 points behind Svindal.
Ligety’s renaissance comes after enduring some injuries over the last couple seasons. Now that he’s back on the hill and performing at such a high level, he gives credit to his training regimen.
“This year I’m in much better physical shape,” said Ligety in a conference call with the media Monday afternoon from Trentino-Paganella, Italy. “It’s a lot easier the last 20 seconds of the hill to go hard, opposed to last year where I got pretty fatigued early.”
The Bellvarde had 20 first-run victims over the weekend.
Among the questions posed to the World Cup champion was whether he took pride in being arguably the best giant slalom skier on the circuit, and if he envisioned super G or slalom as ski disciplines in which he could eventually begin to win consistently at the level of his giant slalom performances.
“The GS is the most trained event in the World Cup,” he said. “It’s a good confidence booster. It really helps you branch out in the other events like super G and downhill.
“Right now, I’m about as good at super G as I am slalom. It’s tough to really say what one is my second-best event. I’d like to have slalom be my second-best event. I feel like I have more natural potential there.”
Ligety addressed the slow start by the U.S. men on the World Cup circuit, pinpointing the fact that the downhillers had a hard time finding feasible snow to train on in the off-season.
He said the team typically trains in Chile, but this year there wasn’t enough snow. After the team took the second option of heading to New Zealand, the conditions were often not safe enough for skiers due to strong winds and rain.
“This summer was kind of tough for our team in general,” he said. “I think things will start coming together.”
Ligety’s focus has now shifted to the next slew of races on the World Cup circuit. The team is preparing for the races in Val Gardena, Alta Badia and Bormio, Italy.
“I think Alta Badia is the best GS hill on the circuit,” Ligety said. “That’s the hill that GS skiers really want to win. It’s such a cool hill.”
When asked what professional athletes he idolized growing up, Ligety mentioned ski legend Tommy Moe and NBA Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone.
Ligety said his current favorite athletes are tennis star Rafael Nadal and Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams.
And when asked to repeat who the last person was, Ligety said, “The best point guard in the NBA, come on.”
Right now, Ligety is in the same class as the Jazz point guard arguably the best at his position.