KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (Feb. 28) - Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) came from third place after the first run to win a World Cup giant slalom Saturday in Slovenia. Ligety out-skied Switzerland's Didier Cuche and Massimiliano Blardone of Italy, who were second and third, for the win.

The win makes it a back-to-back situation for Ligety, who also won in Kranjska Gora last year. In fact, the hill marks the place where Ligety truly burst into the racing elite. Longtime fans recall his Europa Cup slalom win on the Pokoren in 2004 following a pair of World Cups.

"This year has been tough, and to come to Kranjska Gora is always an awesome experience. It's been such a good hill for me for so long," Ligety said. "My coach set the second run and it was just how I like it. You know, I like those big sweeping turns. I had a couple of bobbles along the way, but I'm really happy."

For Ligety, who is coming off a World Championship bronze medal, it's the fourth win of his career and 15th time he's been on a World Cup podium. Though the win keeps Ligety in third for the season's discipline standings, Ligety said overcoming Cuche, who is 73 points ahead after Saturday's race would be a tall order.

"I'm still a long way off. It's going to be hard to make up so many points on Cuche. I'm happy with the day, but I'm not really figuring the red bib anymore," Ligety said.

Austrian Benjamin Raich sits in second in the giant slalom standings, just 21 points behind Cuche, making the race even tighter.

"In Sestriere, at that point when I went out in the second, I knew the crystal globe chances were gone. It was pretty disappointing. Then I let that go. We had a couple of race to go. At least I wanted to come away happy," Ligety said.

"After last week's performance, to step up and win a race is amazing," Men's Alpine Head Coach Sasha Rearick said. "Cuche is skiing really hot, so to go out and catch him took a lot of effort and a lot of risk."

Rearick said American coaches took the opportunity to set a course for Ligety that would give him the best shot at a win.

"We set the second run set really turny to try to give Ted an opportunity to shine at his skill, and he skied super."

These are some more pictures taken from ISPO in Munich at the beginning of February. Snowboard legend Romain Di Marchi and Olympic Gold Medalist Ted Ligety took the time to meet and greet with fans and industry players, sign autographs and show the serious engineering merits of Slytech and Shred products. The show was a huge success and everyone here is so stoked to see the family of shredders come together under one roof at one booth.

ISPO in Munich was hoppin' yesterday (ISPO, in case you didn't know is the International Sporting Goods Trade Show in Munich)! Sometimes it was impossible to scoot past people in the halways between the booths, it was that packed. Slytech/ Shred was no exception, filled with representatives from stores, distributors and the people like you and me who just simply use it. Anyway, if you're in the neighborhood, stop by today, because at 10:30AM CET, we've got Olympic Golden Boy Ted Ligety signing autographs at the booth (A-118) and then at 4PM we've got YES snowboard legend Romain di Marchi stopping by to chit chat and sign autographs. You might want to come early to either session, because it'll be packed.

Hope to see you there! Get some autographs, hold the gear, try it on, get to know the crew...