Five days after admitting to choking, Ligety is an Olympic champion again.
AP Photo/Christophe Ena
Ted Ligety became the first American male alpine skier to win the Olympic giant slalom Wednesday.
Ligety won the event in dominating fashion, setting up the victory with a first run that put him ahead of the field by 0.93 seconds. He finished the course in a two-leg combined time of 2 minutes, 45.29 seconds. Steve Missillier and Alexis Pinturault, both of France, finished second and third, respectively.
With the win, Ligety also becomes the first American man to win two Olympic gold medals in Alpine skiing. His first gold in the combined came at the 2006 Turin games.
The only other American to claim two Olympic golds in Alpine skiing was Andrea Mead Lawrence, who won the women's slalom and giant slalom at the 1952 Oslo games.
Only five days ago, Ligety finished in 12th place in the super combined event and called his performance a "choke, to put it simply" in an interview with NBC. "It's definitely a bummer. But that's ski racing sometimes," he said.
That all changed Wednesday, when Ligety skied to the top of the podium and into the record books. Time to party.