U.S. skier Ted Ligety fails to defend giant slalom title. ▶

Slow first run is costly for U.S. skiing standout

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Ted Ligety knew he hadn’t turned in the best opening run in defense of his Olympic giant slalom title. What he couldn’t tell as he was heading down the hill was just how poorly he’d done.

“I was really surprised when I saw the time,” the American said Sunday morning after the first of two GS runs at the Pyongyang Alpine Center effectively ended any hopes of another medal in a race he won at the 2014 Sochi Games.

“It didn’t feel like I crushed it,” Ligety, 33, said, before adding with a chuckle: “But it didn’t feel 2½ seconds bad.”

Ligety lost more ground in his second run and finished tied for 15th, 3.21 seconds behind gold medalist Marcel Hirscher, the Austrian superstar who already won the Alpine combined gold at these Olympics.

Hirscher turned the giant slalom into a second gold medal in these Games as the 28-year-old star extended his first-run lead to win by a huge margin of 1.27 seconds over hard-charging Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway. Kristoffersen rose from 10th-fastest in the morning with the quickest time in the second run.

Alexis Pinturault of France finished 1.31 behind Hirscher’s two-run time of 2 minutes, 18.04 seconds to get the bronze medal.

An Olympic medal in giant slalom was one of the few honors Hirscher lacked after two near misses. He placed fourth in GS at both the 2010 Vancouver Games and 2014 Sochi Games.

Hirscher is also the world champion in giant slalom, taking gold last year at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

For Ligety, his result was somewhat disappointing. He called it a bad day.

“My goal was definitely to try to be challenging for a medal here. I thought that was definitely within my range. Way out of it now,” said Ligety, who finished fifth on Tuesday in the combined, an event he collected gold in at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

He was able to smile and crack a joke when asked to entertain the far-fetched notion that, because anything can happen, perhaps there was still a chance of a high finish at a mountain where he claimed his first career World Cup race victory back in March 2006.

“I mean, maybe if we get some good wind gusts this afternoon and I get a nice tailwind and those guys get a nice headwind — if something funky happens, then maybe I have a hope and a prayer,” Ligety said. “But if it’s a normal, fair race, then this is way too big of a detriment to climb out of.”

All in all, rather unlikely.

The giant slalom has been Ligety’s forte for years.

In addition to the triumph at Sochi, which made him the only U.S. male Alpine skier with two Olympic golds, he won GS world championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015, along with a bronze in the event at the 2009 worlds.

But on Sunday morning in South Korea, he misjudged the course.

“I just thought it would run maybe a little bit more challenging than maybe it did,” Ligety said. “When you do those little slides, it costs you a ton of time. A few too many of those. … Maybe thought the rolls were going to come into play a little bit more, and they were easy. No excuse.”

Alessandro Trovati The Associated Press U.S. skier Ted Ligety makes a cut during the first run of the men’s giant slalom early Sunday at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.