Ted Ligety led the way for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team men in Adelboden, Switzerland, taking seventh place in the giant slalom.

Zan Kranjec of Slovenia continued his tear in FIS Ski World Cup giant slaloms, winning his first GS of the year. Zan has finished in the top-four of the last five World Cup GS events. Filip Zubcic of Croatia was second and Frenchman Victor Muffat-Jeandet and Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway tied for third. Filip has never landed on the GS podium, and has not even been in the top-five in World Cup GS previously. His previous best was a seventh place in Alta Badia, Italy in 2014. 

Even with warm temperatures plaguing the area prior to the race, the snow was bulletproof and conditions were perfect. It was a tight race with the top 30 only separated by 1.43 seconds first run, which allowed Ted—who had finished 14th first run—a chance to attack. “I felt like I was in a really good position after first run to be in 14th place—only six-tenths out was the sweet spot for trying to move up a lot,” said Ted. “I did OK, but didn’t quite capitalize on it as much as I would have liked to. But I’m happy with seventh place here.”

Ted has been having a solid season so far, finishing fifth in the Soelden GS and 11th in the Beaver Creek GS, but he's hungry for more. “It would have been really easy to be three to six-tenths faster, but you always feel that in ski racing,” said Ted. “To be where I am, I’m happy with that. Definitely feel like there’s a lot of room for improvement though.”

Now, Ted will fly home to see his family in Park City before heading back to Europe for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany races at the end of the month. Garmisch is the site of his last World Cup podium, a third place in 2018 just before the PyeongChang Olympics. “My plan this year is going back and forth,” Ted shared. “It’s been nice to spend some time at home this winter. For me, being older, I definitely need the reset on the body. But also, my son is two and a half. For the last couple years, he’s been traveling and now he needs to do more than see hotel rooms. He needs to spend time at home and get in a routine. With that, I can’t spend more than two weeks away—it’s just too hard. It’s nice going back and forth.”

Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Ryan Cochran-Siegle was on track for another strong result, but got caught on a gate in the first run and had to throw his skis sideways to stay in the course, causing him to lose time. He still finished in the points, taking 18th. This is Ryan's 12th result out of 13 World Cup starts across five disciplines. 

After winning the Birds of Prey GS earlier this season, all eyes were on Tommy Ford, who was looking for another podium. But he loaded up his ski and crashed early in his first run. River Radamus just missed the second run by .02 seconds, finishing 31st. Brian McLaughlin also did not qualify for a second run.

The men race slalom on Sunday in Adelboden to wrap up the tech weekend.

RESULTS
Men’s Giant Slalom

STANDINGS
Men's Overall
Men’s Giant Slalom

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HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

Sunday, Jan. 12
4:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
*Same-day broadcast
**Next-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow. 

Why doesn’t “Snow Pass” have commentary?
In order to provide 900+ hours of content at an affordable price, we rely on the world feed (a video feed provided by the rights holder), which often does not include English commentary. Commentary is available on all television coverage provided by NBC, NBCSN and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, and live streaming via authentication at NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app