U.S. skiers put on a good showing this past weekend, especially those coming back from injury. Ted Ligety took the giant slalom win on Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek, while Lindsey Vonn topped the podium at Lake Louise鈥檚 downhill race.聽
Ligety had a tough go of it early in the season, finishing 10th in Soelden, Austria, after hitting a rock on the course and breaking a bone in his wrist during training in late November. , the 30-year-old Park City native was sitting in fourth place after his first run but had the fastest second run and finished 0.18 seconds ahead of France鈥檚 Alexis Pinturault.
鈥淔irst run I was maybe a little bit grindy, which is pushing a little bit late on the turn,鈥 Ligety told the Post. 鈥淥n this aggressive snow, your skis bounce a little bit, and that鈥檚 just bleeding tiny hundredths of a second here and there. When you do that the whole way down, it definitely adds up. Second run I was able to find [the fall line,] so I was knifing through the turn, wasn鈥檛 grinding as much. It definitely felt a lot better.鈥
This weekend was Ligety鈥檚 fifth win on Birds of Prey, boding well for his chances come February when the take place there.
Vonn first injured her knee in a wipeout at the world championships in March 2013. She had surgery but partially tore one of her reconstructed ligaments in a training crash three months before Sochi. She attempted to make it back in time for the games but sprained her MCL in a downhill race last December and needed another operation.
Vonn鈥檚 first win in almost two years was her 12th World Cup downhill victory at Lake Louise. She claimed first place by almost half a second over runner-up Stacey Cook, .
鈥淢y knee feels really good,鈥 . 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think about my knee at all. I don鈥檛 ski differently because of it. I鈥檓 back to doing what I used to do.鈥
The men and women head to Are, Sweden, this weekend for slalom and giant slalom competitions.