ADELBODEN, Switzerland — Ted Ligety won a duel with Marcel Hirscher in a World Cup giant slalom Saturday for a career-best fourth victory of the season in his specialty event.
The 28-year-old American skied cleanly in the fast-fading light to take the victory after first-run leader Hirscher of Austria made a mistake on the dark slope. Ligety was second after the first run, but finished 1.15 seconds ahead of runner-up Fritz Dopfer of Germany in a combined time of 2 minutes, 28.67 seconds.
“I was definitely gifted it by Hirscher today, because he would have beaten me by a good margin,” Ligety said. “But I have gifted him a lot of races in the past also. I guess that’s ski racing.”
Ligety, who earned his 15th career World Cup victory — all in giant slalom — is third in the overall standings.
Hendrickson jumps to win
HINTERZARTEN, Germany — Defending overall World Cup champion Sarah Hendrickson of the United States edged Sawra Takanashi of Japan to win a World Cup ski jump event.
Hendrickson was 0.2 points behind Coline Mattel of France in the first heat, then produced the longest jump of the second series by soaring 98.5 meters to win with 243.6 points.
Edelmann takes combined
CHAUX-NEUVE, France — Tino Edelmann of Germany won his first nordic combined event of the season with a strong 10-kilometer cross country race after finishing third in the ski jump. Taylor Fletcher of Steamboat Springs was 10th.
The Associated Press
