U.S.'s Ligety Ready to Make Name for Himself

SESTRIERE, Italy, Feb. 13 -- The hype, as the American Alpine ski racers descended on this mountain village, belonged to Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves, to Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow. But by the time the men's combined event is finished on Tuesday, there might be a new American name on people's lips: Ted Ligety.

Ligety is only 21, and these are his first Olympics. But the native of Utah has been roaring to the forefront during his first full season on the World Cup circuit. He is third in the slalom standings and is considered an outside threat in the combined, which adds together the times in one downhill run and two slalom runs.

"I didn't expect my ascent to be this fast," Ligety said last week.

Others, however, aren't surprised.

"If you look at his skiing last season, where he was going from the 60s and punching through and getting top 10s, you didn't have to project too far into this season so see that he was going to start kicking [tail]," said U.S. teammate Scott Macartney, Ligety's roommate here. "The guy's just had that same style, so aggressive compared to other people, it's like he's been skiing like that forever."

At the 2002 Olympics, Ligety served as a forerunner, one of the skiers who skis the course to make sure their aren't any irregularities before a race.

"It was cool doing that," Ligety said. "But it wasn't like it was a learning experience."

The learning experience, instead, has been the practice runs Ligety has taken here. His Olympic debut comes Tuesday.

"I think you should expect big things from him here," Macartney said.

-- Barry Svrluga