Ligety Can’t Surprise, but He Can Win Gold

No one had Ted Ligety pegged for one gold medal in these Olympics, let alone two, but the 21-year-old American has a chance for a rare double today in the men’s slalom.

“I feel pretty confident, for sure,” Ligety said this week.

His surprise victory in the combined Feb. 14 has made him one of the favorites in the final Olympic Alpine event.

Ligety skied the fastest second slalom run in the combined event against the world’s top skiers and says now, with a gold medal in his pocket, he can aggressively attack the course.

“It’s a lot harder to do if you’re not confident in where you’re going and what you’re doing,” Ligety said. “It’s hard to quantify. You have to let your body get in the flow of things. You want to run in the snow freely.”

Ligety will have plenty of skiers pushing him, notably:

* Giorgio Rocca of Italy. There is tremendous pressure on Rocca to win this event for his country. Rocca is the World Cup leader in slalom this year and has won 11 times in his career, including five in a row at one point this season.

Rocca, however, finished only fifth in the combined and was outraced in both slalom runs by Ligety.

Rocca skipped the super-G and giant slalom to concentrate on slalom.

* Benjamin Raich of Austria. Like Ligety, Raich no longer feels the pressure, after winning his first gold medal in the giant slalom. Also, Raich might have defeated Ligety in the combined had he not straddled a gate as he approached the finish line.

* Kalle Palander of Finland. He ranks second in the World Cup slalom standings and has six top-10 finishes this year. Palander has nine slalom victories in his career.

* Bode Miller. OK, it’s a longshot, but the guy used to be one of the top slalom skiers in the world before his quest for the World Cup overall title left him little time to practice.

Miller has not finished five of seven World Cup slaloms this year and was disqualified in the slalom combined here for straddling a gate, but he’s still capable of skiing the fastest run.

In slalom, though, you have to ski two runs to complete the event and that makes this a dicey proposition for the inconsistent Miller.

“Never count Bode Miller out,” U.S. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt said.

“He can put down a great performance. He’s obviously got something to prove in the last race and we’ll see.”