It was a spectacular year for the U.S. Ski Team. For the first time ever, America won five of the 12 globes. Ted Ligety of Park City, Utah helped this American domination by taking the giant slalom crown. Plum sat in on a press interview with Ligety and his teammate Lindsey Vonn. Here is what Ligety had to say about his win.
What does this mean winning a world cup title, something that goes on all winter long?
I mean this is ten fold more important to me than my Olympics gold. For the gold, it is only 3 runs whereas this is an entire season… I’m especially psyched.
How did you feel going into the race today?
On my first run today, I was definitely nervous and decided to take it a little too tactically….But in the second run I made up the time.
This is 5 world cup titles for America, how do you feel about being a part of that historical moment?
Super cool. Watching Lindsey Vonn come down and clinching it….it was really cool.
Explain what it means that this is better than winning the Olympics.
The Olympics is a huge event and super important in its own right. Yet it is only one race and so much can happen in one race that it is hard to pick the greatest person in that one event…Winning that one race is awesome, but to be able to consistently lay down awesome results all year long is just awesome….It’s so much harder to do and such a greater achievement from a purely athletic standpoint.
Why is giant slalom the hardest? What does this do for your confidence?
GS is the hardest because it is the basis for all skiing. Downhill and Super G are very related to it….But to be the GS champion is awesome because it shows that you have that skill set. I said today that I’m 20 kilos away from being able to compete for Downhill and Super G. I just need to get more consistent with GS…I think the whole overall is a couple years away…I’m still fourth and I still have some years.
How did you handle the pressure?
I didn’t handle it the first run…skied too carefully. Second run I knew I had to fight to stay ahead. My big thing is just relaxing and to not think about my race until ten seconds before I get out of the start gate.
What were you thinking about today?
I try not to think about the race until I'm in the starting gate. Before that I like to joke around with my physio and technicians…We like to quote “Flight of the Concords” a lot and sing their songs. Various things…off the wall and very childish stuff.
In the past you have been really good at consistently being in the top ten, but had trouble winning. How did you win this year and can you carry that into next year?
Not something you can do but to just ski. Luck plays a lot into it, especially when you are riding ahead by only a couple hundredths of a second. I think luck was on my side and I knew I had to fight….In the beginning, I kind of had to be fast and I didn’t have to win everything and that was a bad mentality for me to have and I knew towards the end of the year I had to fight for it. …. I knew it was all or nothing. I got the lucky side of that and came through on it.
How will you attack next year?
Ski similar to this year. Work really hard this summer and get to a new place. …Now that I know I can compete at this level it’s really nice. I’m just going to have to give it everything I’ve got.
This is one of the better years in American ski history. Can you point to anything the team has done or the skiers do that would attribute to this success?
Lindsey and I are becoming more mature skiers. We are both only 23 years old and that is extremely young for the World Cup. ….We have great training in the US and Key Stone and I think we have a good staff that keeps everything fresh and fun which is good when you are traveling for three months and living out of a duffle bag.
We are used to US skiers being underdog. Does it feel different today being an American skier?
A little bit with the sense of the domination we had from Lindsey and Bode and me….I was asked about who is better Austria or the US and I still say Austria because they have so many good ones….But it is cool to be at the top of my event.
Do you feel that competitors look at your differently now?
Maybe in a sense. A big part of what we do is train with others so when you go with faster guys then you go faster so we work a lot with the Swedes.
We want to hear about this mullet?
Lindsay and my physio sat down after a conference and gave me a sweet mullet.
Was this based on a bet?
Yeah. I kept my hair growing and eventually they said if you win the GS title, you have to get a mullet….and Lindsey did the honors.
When was the last time you had a haircut?
I think November 2006 actually. Quite a while.
Congratulations to Ted Ligety, Lindsey Vonn, Bode Miller and the entire US Ski Team!
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