Ford, Ligety Battle For Top 15 in Saalbach GS
Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.) likes to keep things simple. But Wednesday’s FIS World Cup giant slalom in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austra, was anything but simple as Ford had to fight for his 14th-place finish on a long and challenging track. Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) was right behind in 15th.
“I felt like I was skiing well, moving well,” Ford said following his second run. “But halfway down, I really just ran out of gas and had to scrap it together.”
Ford’s simple approach to the start of the season has resulted in consistent results lately, including career-best back-to-back results coming into Wednesday’s race - fifth Sunday in Alta Badia, Italy, and sixth in Val d’Isere, France, on Dec. 12. In fact, Ford has finished in the top 16 in every World Cup giant slalom contested so far this season. But the training and racing load caught up with him Wednesday.
“I’ve been psyched with my consistency the past couple weeks...and these races packed together, I wasn’t quite recovered and fast enough on this long course,” he said.
Wednesday’s course was arguably the most difficult course the athletes have faced on the World Cup circuit so far this season. Overall World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria struggled on the Schneekristall-Zwölfer Course and finished sixth, his worst giant slalom result in more than two years. However, Slovenia’s Zan Kranjec aggressive style certainly suited him well as he took his first World Cup victory. Switzerland’s Loic Meillard posted his first career World Cup podium in second; followed by Mathieu Faivre of France in third.
There’s no rest for the weary as the World Cup circuit continues with a pair of slalom events before the Christmas break. The men will compete in slalom Thursday in Saalbach, then travel to Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, for slalom Saturday.
In the meantime, it’s back to “trusting what we have been doing in training and not over-complicating things on race days,” Ford said. “Just trusting that the skiing is good and what we have been doing in training works.”
RESULTS
Men’s giant slalom
STANDINGS
Men’s overall World Cup
Merryweather, Ross Struggle in Val Gardena Super-G
Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.) and Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) struggled in Wednesday’s FIS Ski World Cup super-G in Val Gardena, Italy, which was a rescheduled event from Val d’Isere, France.
Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec won for the second-straight day, proving she is fully recovered from a knee injury that sidelined her all of the 2017-18 season. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein was second, followed by Austria’s Nicole Schmidhofer in third. Merryweather was 37th and Ross was 39th.
Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.), who did not compete Wednesday, still holds the lead in the World Cup super-G standings by 25 points over Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel, who finished fifth Wednesday. Shiffrin also leads the World Cup slalom standings and has a massive 330 point lead in her quest for a third-straight overall World Cup title.
Shiffrin will be back in action when the women’s World Cup circuit continues Friday and Saturday with giant slalom and slalom events in Courchevel, France. Last year she swept the Courchevel series, with wins in both giant slalom and parallel slalom.
RESULTS
Women’s super-G
STANDINGS
Women’s overall World Cup
HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
*Same-day delayed broadcast
**Next-day broadcast
Thursday, Dec. 20
4:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1 - Saalbach-Hinterglemm, AUT - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2 - Saalbach-Hinterglemm, AUT - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
Friday, Dec. 21
4:30 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 1, Courchevel, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 2, Courchevel, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
12:00 p.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 2, Courchevel, FRA - NBCSN-TV*
Saturday, Dec. 22
4:30 a.m. - Women’s slalom run 1, Courchevel, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s slalom run 2, Courchevel, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
9:45 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Madonna di Campiglio, ITA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
12:30 p.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Madonna di Campiglio, ITA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
2:30 p.m. - Women’s slalom run 2, Courchevel, FRA - NBCSN-TV*
Sunday, Dec. 23
2:30 p.m. - Women’s slalom and giant slalom, Courchevel, FRA - NBC**
