Summary Ted Ligety chose the marquee super-G of the season to crown his recent improvement in speed skiing.
SCHLADMING, Austria:-Building on his giant slalom skills, the American produced a blistering finish to win his first ever super-G and even surprise himself before a crowd of 24,000 at the skiing world championships on Wednesday.
Ligety took a lot of risks in the turning final section and mastered the Planai course in 1 minute, 23.96 seconds.
Gauthier De Tessieres of France was 0.20 back in second in another stunning result, and Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who won three of the four World Cup super-Gs this season, was another 0.02 back in third.
Defending champion Christof Innerhofer of Italy finished 1.09 off the pace in seventh.
"Today was unbelievable," said Ligety, who was the 10th starter. "It was a nerve-wracking 30 minutes, waiting for all the favorites to come down. (To) finally see (Svindal) come down right behind me was a huge weight off my shoulders."
Ligety made a super-G podium only once before, a second in a World Cup at Val d Isere, France, in 2009. This season, he s finished fourth in two races.
"I am having a good year in super-G but I didn t think this was possible," he said. "I thought I had a chance for a medal I knew I had to take many risks at the bottom to have a chance. I tried not to slide and to ski as clean as possible."
Ligety became the third American to win the world super-G title in the past 12 years after Daron Rahlves in St. Anton, Austria, in 2001 and Bode Miller in Bormio, Italy, four years later.
The gold is Ligety s second worlds medal, two years after winning the giant slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
It s also the second medal for the U.S. team this week, a day after Julia Mancuso placed third in the women s super-G.
"Julia always does well at the big events," Ligety said. "I knew I had a good chance myself today and it s great to make a contribution to the success of the team."
The fate of teammate Lindsey Vonn, who suffered season-ending injuries in a crash on Tuesday, had not been on his mind, he said.
"It s very sad for Lindsey because she was doing great but it didn t matter for my race," he said. "You have to move on. I am sure she will be back next year. As a ski racer, you can t let that affect you too much."
The course set with many turns suited Ligety s style of skiing. He usually arches long turns better than most of the speed specialists.
"Ted s been skiing great all season," U.S. men s head coach Sasha Rearick said. "He has been just charging and skiing clean as in GS, with the confidence to take it down the hill at super-G speed."
According to Rearick, Ligety s superior GS skills were the key to his victory.
"He was able to hang tight with the best gliders on the top and took some time on them on the bottom," Rearick said. "This creates a lot of momentum for us. I use this momentum to get the inspiration going."
Ligety trailed then-leader De Tessieres by 0.41 at the first intermediate time 30 seconds into his run. He reduced the deficit to 0.06 over the next 30 seconds and beat the Frenchman in the bottom section.
De Tessieres, whose best super-G result on the circuit was eighth, had not qualified for the French team, but replaced Johan Clarey, who pulled out with a back injury on Sunday.
"It s difficult to describe this week," De Tessieres said. "I hadn t qualified and got a phone call from the coach a couple of days ago and now I am here. I am so happy. It s amazing, a crazy story."
The fourth racer on the course, De Tessieres was not hampered by nerves in competing in a world championship race he wasn t supposed to start just days ago.
"My run was very good from the start," he said. "I felt no pressure."
Several favorites led Ligety at the first split, including Austria s Matthias Mayer, Italy s Matteo Marsaglia and Innerhofer, and Svindal.
The course was set by Norway coach Tron Moger, who also placed the gates when Svindal won the super-G in Val Gardena, Italy, in December.
The Norwegian led Ligety by 0.06 and 0.09 respectively but lost the ideal race line while approaching the finish.
"I took a lot of risks and had a small mistake at the end," Svindal said. "The conditions were OK, but not ideal. With this (low) light, you don t see the bumps. I am satisfied. Ted did just great, he would have had a great run with number 22 as well."
Svindal praised Ligety for taking advantage of a course set that suited the American perfectly.
"There was not a lot of downhill skiing in there, it was turn, turn, turn," Svindal said. "I watch him ski and I was impressed. I saw him taking more risks than anyone else and that is sometimes what it takes."
The world championships continue with the women s super-combined on Friday.
