48 Facts About Ted Ligety

Theodore Sharp Ligety was born on August 31,1984 and is a retired American alpine ski racer, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and an entrepreneur, having cofounded Shred Optics.

Ted Ligety won the combined event at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and the giant slalom race at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

Ted Ligety is a five-time World Cup champion in giant slalom.

Ted Ligety won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships.

Ted Ligety successfully defended his world title in giant slalom in 2013 in Schladming, Austria, where he won an unexpected gold medal in the super-G and a third gold medal in the super combined.

Ted Ligety finished his career with 25 victories and 52 podiums in World Cup competition.

Ted Ligety was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son of Cyndi Sharp and Bill Ted Ligety, who are real estate agents.

Ted Ligety grew up in Park City and began skiing at two and racing at ten.

Ted Ligety attended The Winter Sports School and graduated in 2002.

Ted Ligety was named to the US Skiing Development Team and won a silver medal in slalom in the Junior World Championships in 2004.

Ted Ligety made his first start in a World Cup event during the 2004 World Cup season in the giant slalom at Park City.

The next winter in the 2005 season, Ted Ligety was added to the US Ski Team full-time, during which he had four top-15 finishes in slalom, placing 24th overall in the discipline.

Ted Ligety won the gold medal in the men's combined event, a major upset after the two racers favored to win the event failed to finish the slalom portion.

Ted Ligety became just the fourth American male skier to win Olympic gold, along with Moe, Phil Mahre and Bill Johnson.

At Turin, Ligety participated in the giant slalom and the slalom, but he failed to complete either event.

Ted Ligety finished ninth in the overall World Cup standings for the year, marking the first time that three American men had placed in the top 10, despite the fact that he did not compete in downhill or super-G that year.

Ted Ligety won his first World Cup season title in the giant slalom in 2008, and finished fifth in the overall standings.

Ted Ligety won the final two giant slaloms of the year at Kranjska Gora and Bormio to edge out two-time defending champion Benjamin Raich of Austria for the season title.

Ted Ligety recorded four other podium finishes: a second and a third in giant slalom and two third places in slalom.

Ted Ligety opened defense of his 2008 giant slalom title with a third-place finish in Solden, Austria, and then placed second at Beaver Creek, Colorado.

At the 2009 World Championships in Val d'Isere, France, Ted Ligety took the bronze medal in the giant slalom, then won his fourth World Cup race at Kranjska Gora.

Ted Ligety finished the season with another second at the finals in Are, Sweden, which left him ranked third in GS and ninth overall for the season.

Ted Ligety won his sixth World Cup race in December 2010, his first win on home snow in the US, taking the giant slalom by a substantial 0.82 seconds at Beaver Creek, Colorado, the site of his first podium five years earlier.

Six days later, Ted Ligety won the next GS race in Val d'Isere, France, by over a full second.

Ted Ligety won his third consecutive GS race at Alta Badia, Italy, the following week.

Fourth after the first run, Ted Ligety won by 0.08 seconds over Cyprien Richard of France.

Ted Ligety won his third season title in giant slalom in 2011.

Therefore, Ted Ligety was forced to attack as powerful as he was able to do but he did fall in the first leg; he did continue but he finished on the 29th place, he had a deficite of 11.16 seconds to leading Hannes Reichelt.

Doubts if the new rules would affect his level of skiing didn't last long as Ted Ligety won the first race of the season in Soelden by a huge margin of 2.75 seconds over Manfred Moelgg who finished second.

In overall standings Ted Ligety finished on the career best 3rd place.

Ted Ligety made his season even more impressive by winning three gold medals at the World Championships in Schladming.

Ted Ligety then won the super combined event and successfully defended his title in the giant slalom.

Ted Ligety won three giant slalom races prior to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

Ted Ligety skied carefully on the second run to secure the first-ever gold medal for an American man in the discipline.

Ted Ligety became the first male American ski racer in history to win two Olympic gold medals in his career.

The Crystal Globe was however awarded to Ted Ligety who won due to having five discipline victories during the season compared to Hirscher's two.

At the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2015 held in Beaver Creek, Ted Ligety finished third in the super combined event despite being ranked 29th after the downhill leg.

Ted Ligety won the season's first race, a giant slalom on October 25,2015, at Solden, Austria.

Ted Ligety returned to World Cup racing in October 2016, competing in the prelude race at Solden on October 23, and he finished 11th in the giant slalom on December 4 at Val d'Isere.

Ted Ligety was not able to finish the following two giant slalom races due to back pain, and subsequently returned to the United States.

Ted Ligety returned to the World Cup racing late in 2017, competing in the Super G at Lake Louise on November 26, and finishing seventh in the giant slalom on December 3,2017, at Beaver Creek.

Ted Ligety went on to compete at the FIS World Cup events in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Wengen, Adelboden, Alta Badia, and Val d`Isere.

Ted Ligety was named to the US Olympic team on January 6,2018 to compete in the combined, Super G, giant slalom, and slalom races at the PyeongChang Olympics.

Ted Ligety came in fifth in the men's combined event, but following a disappointing finish in the giant slalom, he decided to skip the slalom event and leave South Korea early to focus on the World Cup.

Ted Ligety has won six national championships, putting him behind the all-time record of nine, held by Bode Miller and Tiger Shaw.

Ted Ligety served as the Director of Skiing for the now-bankrupt Mt.

Ted Ligety won three of them in giant slalom, after a bronze medal in 2009 in Val d'Isere behind Carlo Janka and Benjamin Raich he won the GS world title in 2011 besting Cyprien Richard and Philipp Schorghofer.

Ted Ligety is married and has three children, a son born in 2017 and twin sons born in 2020.