Ligety Wins Giant Slalom in Val D'Isere, France after his Win in Beaver Creek, CO

 VAL D'ISERE, France — Ted Ligety is well on his way to a third World Cup giant slalom title, dominating his rivals Saturday for his second straight victory in this event. Now he's trying to carry his success to the slalom as well.  The American beat Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway by more than a second in the French Alps resort for his seventh career victory in his favorite event. But to achieve his goal of challenging for the overall World Cup title, Ligety knows he needs to vastly improve his slalom results this season — starting with Sunday's race.  He had six top-three finishes in the discipline between 2006 and 2008 but struggled the last two years. To break his slump, Ligety switched skis during the offseason and did a lot of testing with his new supplier.  “Slalom is so difficult, it's so tight,” he said. “The equipment setup makes it a lot easier, so we'll see. It's not easy to be fast in slalom right now but I feel like step by step I'm getting closer to where I was.”  In giant slalom, he's looking better than ever.  Coming off his GS win at Beaver Creek last weekend, Ligety had a flawless first leg on the Face de Bellevarde and then pulled out a bold second run to win in the combined time of 2 minutes, 26.26 seconds.  Svindal was 1.05 seconds behind while Massimiliano Blardone of Italy was third, 1.21 back.

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