Ted Ligety leads 1st run of World Cup giant slalom

[March 16, 2013]  LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland (AP) -- Ted Ligety of the United States showed his supremacy in giant slalom again on Saturday, taking a big lead in the first run at the World Cup finals.

Ligety has already clinched the GS discipline title and is looking for his sixth World Cup win of the season. He clocked 1 minute, 8.17 seconds on the steep course, 0.66 faster than Alexis Pinturault of France. Philipp Schoerghofer of Austria trailed Ligety by 0.89 in third.

Overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria was fourth, with 0.97 to make up in the second run.

Hirscher's closest challenger, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, ended his season by skiing out.

Ligety also won the GS at the world championships last month, one of three gold medals for the American.

[Associated Press; By GRAHAM DUNBAR]

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