Ted Ligety took the gold in the men’s giant slalom on Wednesday, becoming the first American to take the top podium spot in the event.
Ligety, the event favorite, had a two-run combined time of 2:45.29 after establishing a nearly second-long lead in the first run.
“To be able to throw it down in the event I had the most pressure in, and the event I was the favorite in – to be able to do that is awesome,” Ligety said.
France’s Steve Missillier and Alexis Pinturault took the silver and bronze, respectively, earning that country’s first alpine skiing medals of this Olympics.
Missillier had the fastest time in his second run at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Center, but couldn’t catch Ligety’s dominant first run lead.
Pinturault posted strong performances in each run, following a productive world cup season that included wins in the slalom and super combined.
Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, the overall world cup champion this season in the slalom events, came in fourth with a time of 2:46.23.
None of the competitors could overcome the lead Ligety established early on in the competition, getting a blistering 1:21.08 in the first run and coming in nearly one second ahead of the second-place finisher, Czech Republic’s Ondrej Bank, who placed fifth overall.
Ligety is the reigning world champion in the giant slalom, super-G and super combined, but faced challenges early in the Sochi Winter Games, taking 14th in the men’s super-G and 12th in the men’s super combined.
The 29-year-old is the second American skier to win two gold medals, after topping the podium in the combined at the Torino Olympics and failing to medal in the the four events he entered at the Vancouver Winter Games.
Fellow American Bode Miller finished in 20th, with a time 2.53 seconds slower than Ligety’s. Miller dropped out of Saturday’s men&r squo;s slalom event because of a knee injury, which means the giant slalom was likely his final Olympic event.
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