Park City Local and two-time Olympic champion Ted Ligety has announced his retirement after a 17-year career on the U.S. Ski Team.
Ligety announced Tuesday that his final race of his professional career will be in the Giant Slalom at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy on Feb.19th.
Ligety grew up in Park City and raced with the Park City Ski Team before being named to the US. Ski Team in 2004. His first major victory of his career came at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin when he won the gold medal in the men’s combined event. At just 21, he became the first American man to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing in a dozen years.
He won his first World Cup Season title in the Giant Slalom in 2008 and went on to win the season title again in 2010 and 2011.
In 2013, he made the history books by winning three gold medals in the World Championships. That had not been done for 45 years since Jean Claude Killy last won three gold medals at the 1968 Olympics.
For most of his career, Ligety considered himself an all-around skier and made it to the podium in all of the major World Cup events, including slalom, giant slalom, alpine combined, super-G, and downhill. After some injuries and then back surgery, Ligety made the decision to restrict his ski races to what he called his “bread and butter,” the Giant Slalom.
The former Communications Director for U.S. Ski and Snowboard Tom Kelly followed Ligety as he made his ways up the ranks. He remembers when Ligety was skiing with the Park City Ski Team and was chosen to forerun for the 2002 Winter Olympics because he was the kid who was willing to put in the hard work.
"When the coaches made the decision on who was going to forerun out of the Park City Ski Team athletes, they looked at Ted, and they looked at Ted not just because of his results - really it wasn't because of his results. It was more because of his work ethic," Kelly said. "He chose to work really hard, and he did that through his entire career.”
Kelly notes that Ligety was successful not only because of his hard work but the fact that he took ownership of his career.
“He took advice and counsel from coaches and others,” Kelly said. “And then he applied it the way that he saw fit. He really crafted his own career by taking ownership of it right from the start and I think those are lessons that he learned when he was young.”
He believes that not only will Ligety’s accomplishment be his legacy, but his personal interest in grooming the next generation of ski racers.
“He spent a lot of time with his teammates - skiers like Tommy Ford and Ryan Cochran Siegle both veterans and also the up and coming River Rademus,” Kelly said. “I think that his legacy will be what he left behind in the examples that he set for others to follow.”
In a prepared statement, Ligety who has 3 boys under the age of four said he is looking forward to spending more time with his family and quote, “ripping up the mountain.”
