Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 31, 1984, Ted Ligety is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, he won the Combined event at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin and the Giant Slalom at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. He also won five gold and two bronze medals at the Alpine World Ski Championships.
He finished his career with 25 victories (24 in Giant Slalom and 1 Super Combined) and 52 podiums in the World Cup. His 5 World Cup titles put him among the three greatest Giant Slalom skiers of all time behind Ingemar Stenmark and Marcel Hirscher.
Ted Ligety was a game-changer in Alpine skiing, redefining the discipline of Giant Slalom so much so that the New York Times wrote about him in 2014, "No skier in the world carves turns the way Ted Ligety does. The American has practically invented a new way of skiing."
At the 2009 Alpine World Ski Championships in Val d'Isère, France, Ligety took the bronze medal in the Giant Slalom.
In February 2011 Ligety won his World Champion title in the Giant Slalom at the Alpine World Ski Championships held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
The 2013 season turned out to be the best in Ligety's career as he finished on the podium in all eight Giant Slalom World Cup races of the season and won six of them. Ligety rounded up his fantastic season winning three gold medals at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Schladming (Super-G, Super Combined, and Giant Slalom).
Twelve years after American Daron Rahlves won Super-G gold at the 2001 Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Anton, Tedd Ligety repeated the feature. Ligety has never won a Super-G at any race level. His best results were two-second places in December 2009 in Val d'Isere and in December 2015 in Beaver Creek. Ligety used his Giant Slalom technique to master the steep bottom section of the course at the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships to take a two-tenths of a second win over France's Gautier De Tessieres. Heavily favored Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway took bronze.
Five days after winning the Super-G, Ligety won the Super Combined for his second title at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. Sixth after the Downhill, he nailed the second-fastest Slalom run to take gold.
On February 15, defending Giant Slalom World Champion Ted Ligety rewrote the history books, becoming the first man in 45 years to win three gold medals at a World Championships. Ligety banked a 1.30-second first-run lead to win by 0.81 over Austria's Marcel Hirscher in the giant slalom at the Championships in Schladming. Legendary ski star Jean Claude Killy was the last to accomplish the feat when he won four gold at the 1968 Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble.
Only four men previously have won three or more gold (Toni Sailer, Austria, 4 in Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956, 3 in Badgastein 1958; Jean Claude Killy, France, 4 in Grenoble 1968; Stein Eriksen, Norway, 3 in Åre 1954; Emile Allais, France, 3 in Chamonix 1937).
At the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2015 held in Vail- Beaver Creek, USA, Ligety finished third in the Super Combined event despite finishing in 29th position after the Downhill run. In the Giant Slalom, he finished fifth after the first run 0.24 seconds behind then-leading favorite Marcel Hirscher. Ligety skied a flawless second run, to secure his third consecutive world title in the discipline in front of the home crowd. Rounding out the Giant Slalom podium were Austria’s Marcel Hirscher and France’s Alexis Pinturault in second and third, respectively.
Ted Ligety planned to participate in the 2021 Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo but withdrew due to an injury, which prompted his retirement from ski racing in early February 2021.
Ted Ligety Statistics
Olympic Winter Games Starts: 14
Olympic Winter Games Medals: 2
Olympic Winter Games Victories: 2
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Starts: 24
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Podiums: 7
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Victories: 5
FIS World Cup Starts: 336
FIS World Cup Podiums: 52
FIS World Cup Victories: 25
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