USA's Ted Ligety wins World giant slalom

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Ted Ligety of the United States skied a flawless second run Friday to win the men's giant slalom at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Germany.

Ligety compiled a combined-run time of 2 minutes, 10.56 seconds to edge silver-medalist Cybriem Richard of France by 8/100ths of a second and give the American team its first gold medal of the championships.

"It's not easy being one of the favorites and being able to perform in this type of conditions," said Ligety, a two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist in the giant slalom. "I feel really lucky to come away with the win."

Austrian Philipp Schoerghofer placed third and Aksel Lund Svindel wound up in fourth after winning the first of the two runs in the event. American Bode Miller placed 12th with a 2:11.83.