Ted Ligety Wins Giant Slalom Gold

Ted Ligety has given the United States its first gold medal at this years alpine skiing world championships. Ligety, who won the combined event a tthe 2006 Olympics in Torino, won the giant slalom by just .08 seconds over Cyprien Richard of France.

The course in Germany was apparently under extremely declining conditions and it was tough to eve get down the hill, much less do it as quickly as Ligety did. Ligety was in fourth after his first run, but made it up in his second. His combined time of 2:10.56 edged Richard and Philipp Schoergerhoefer of Austria by just .43 seconds. Aksel Svindal of Norway was fourth.

 

Vonn Skips Downhill Won By Marchand-Arvier

Lindsey Vonn skipped the downhill at the Alpine Skiing World Championships, and France’s Marie Marchand-Arvier. Arvier’s time of 1:51.23 defeated Lara Gut of Switzerland by just .2 seconds. Ingrid Jaquemod, the oldest woman in the field at 32 years old, finished third.

The highest placing American was Laurenne Ross in 6th. Julia Mancuso was 12th and Stacey Cook was 18th.

Vonn is still recovering from a crash she had in training for this event, and is struggling with concussion symptoms. She took a practice run today, but only because it was a pre-requisite for her to continue to be eligible for the rest of the world championships.

West Ham Wins 2012 Olympic Stadium Bid

The OPLC (Olympic Park Legacy Company), in a bit of  a shocker (to me at least) has decided that their favored bid for the 2012 Olympic Stadium is that of West Ham, instead of Tottenham.

The main selling point seems to be that West Ham will keep the track and allow the stadium to host both track and field events as well as other sports and entertainment events as well after the 2012 Olympics are over.

Apparently Tottenham were going to take down the stadium and build a new one to house their soccer team, Tottenham Hotspur, after the games. That seemed to be a sticking point, as a BBC poll found that 81% of the Londoners were in favor of keeping the track.

For more read the BBC’s report

Lindsey Vonn Might Miss the Rest of the World Championships

The alpine skiing world championships have begun in Germany, but a notable name could be missing from the rest of the event. Lindsey Vonn injured her head in a fall while training in giant slalom last week, before finishing 7th in Super G.

Vonn is more than likely going to skip her next event and could skip the rest of them as well. She is ranked 2nd in the overall world cup standings, and would likely be a favorite in the rest of her races, as she won the only super-combined race held so far this year, and she of course is the Olympic gold medalist in the downhill.

Vonn’s husband has said the course is both “overdone and dangerous”

Aerials Dominated by China

China took 3 of the 6 aerials medals at the 2010 games, but neither gold. They fixed that yesterday as Shuang Cheng won the women’s event, with her fellow countrywoman Xu Mengtao finishing second. On the men’s side Qi Guangpu won the silver. The men’s gold was won by Canada’s Warren Shouldice as the Canadians continued their strong showing at the 2011 worlds. Guangpu edged Anton Kushnir of Belarus by just over a point for the silver.

On the ladies side Shuang’s gold was won by just .19.

This marked the second straight event in which no American medaled. Ashley Caldwell finished 4th and Kevin Brown finished 12th.

Canadians Dominate Skicross

Canadian’s took half of the medals at the skiicross World Championships today, including both golds, as the Freestyle Skiing Worlds have hit their midway point. Kelsey Serwa won the gold on the women’s side, just a week after taking X Games gold. Serwa spent much of the time in between the X Games and the World Championships getting treatment for a back injury she suffered when she crashed going across the finish line. Serwa finished in 5th at the 2010 Olympics. Fellow Canadian Julia Murray finished 2nd and Anna Holmund of Sweden won the bronze.

Chris DelBosco, who was born in Colorado and holds dual citizenship, won a gold for his adopted homeland after finishing 4th in this event at the 2010 Olympics. He was the fastest qualifier in that portion of the event, then breezed to an easy win in the quarters and 2nd in the semis before needing a daring pass to win gold. It is his first major victory. Jouni Pellinen of Finland finished 2nd and Andreas Matt of Austria was third.

No American woman advanced out of the time trials, while the highest American man was John Teller, who finished 5th. This was the first  event in which neither an American man or woman medaled, and the only events other than men’s moguls in which no American medaled.

Cape Town Out of the Running for 2020 Summer Games

South Africa is still very much in the running for the 2020 Summer Games. But if they are the host country, Cape Town won’t be the city it is hosted in. Citing the cost that it would take to bring the event to Cape Town, the city spokesman announced the decision to not host.

This leaves Durban as the lone city in South Africa vying for the 2020 bid. South Africa of course hosted the 2010 World Cup, and both Cape Town and Durban were venue cities. Cape Town was the cite of the Netherlands-Urugay semifinal, while Durban was the site of the semifinal between Germany and Spain.

American Schlopy, Australian Segal Win First Ever Slopestyle World Championships

Alex Schlopy enjoyed some home snow advantage today as he won he FIS Slopestyle World Championship, barely defeating Sammy Carlson, who won this same event at the recently completed Winter X Games. Schlopy’s 41.8 bested Carlson’s 41.5 and Australia’s Russell Henshaw’s 41.2.

On the women’s side, Australia’s Anna Segal dominated both runs, with her first one, which tallied a 43.0, getting her the gold medal. She outpaced Canada’s Kaya Turski by over a point and the United States’s Keri Herman by 2.4 points. Turski, like the silver medalist on the men’s side, was the 2011 X Games Gold medalist.

The first skiing slopestyle event at the World Championships is a possible stepping stone to getting the event into the Olympics. The hopefuls will know later this year whether it will be added to the program for 2014 in Sochi.

Tomorrow the skiiers take the stage again as skiicross medals will be handed out.

American Hannah Kearney Upset at Freestyle Skiing Worlds

Reigning Olympic moguls champion Hannah Kearney lost out in her bid to back that up with a World Championship when she was upset by Canadian Jennifer Heil. Heil’s score of 24.35 narrowly beat Kearney, who was just .04 behind with a 24.31 mark.

The gold was Heil’s first career gold medal at a World Championships and it comes as Heil is set to retire from the sport. The 27 year old is retiring at season’s end. Fellow Canadian Kristi Richards won the bronze.

The men’s Olympic gold medalist also failed to  back up his gold medal as Alexandre Bilodeau of Canada finished second to Guibault Colas of France.

The championships are being held in Utah at Deer Valley Resort.

Ian Thorpe Coming Out of Retirement

The Thorpedo, now 28, is making a bid to swim in one more Olympics. He will try to compete in next year’s London Olympics. Thorpe says he will focus on the 100 and 200 meter freestyle events, and he added that he will emphasize the 100m

Thorpe has 9 career Olympic medals, 5 of them gold, and set a world record in the 400m freestyle event in the 2000 Sydney Olympics when he was just 17. In the 2004 Games he set an Olympic record in the 200m freestyle, outtouching Pieter van den Hoogenband and a certain Michael Phelps to win gold.

It’s 18 months until the London Olympics, but Thorpe has just 14 before the Australian Olympic Trials.