US skier Ligety wins Soelden giant slalom

SOELDEN, Austria (AFP) –

US skier Ted Ligety competes in the first run of men’s giant slalom during the FIS Ski World cup in Soelden, Austria, on October 28, 2012. Ligety secured the men’s first World Cup victory of the season in the giant slalom here on Sunday for his second successive win here.

US skier Ted Ligety secured the men’s first World Cup victory of the season in the giant slalom here on Sunday for his second successive win here.

The 28-year-old, who won here last year, won in an overall time of 2min 36.02sec, Italy’s Manfred Moelgg was second timing 2:38.77 and reigning overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria was third with a time of 2:39.14.

The opening weekend of the season had been overshadowed by the death on Friday of 23-year-old Austrian skier Bjoern Sieber in a car crash.

The Austrian competitors wore black armbands in memory of their colleague.

Ligety, who has 12 World Cup wins to his credit, was already second after the first run in the morning, despite having skied in extremely difficult conditions.

Skiers had to battle through heavy snowfall and poor visibility in the second run, causing Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, Sweden’s Andre Myhrer and Switzerland’s Marc Berthod to ski off the course.

Switzerland’s Beat Feuz, runner-up in the overall World Cup rankings last year, had decided against competing on Sunday.

The morning’s first run – which saw Frenchman Thomas Fanara record the fastest time although he ended up fourth overall – had already been in doubt due to the poor weather.

Although it started on time, some skiers complained, arguing that late starters had the advantage of perfect sunny weather, whereas early ones were plagued by continuing snowfall and fog.