World Cup rookie Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) broke into his first World Cup top-15 result Sunday, finishing in a tie for 15th behind Austrian Benjamin Raich on the last day of the VISA Birds of Prey World Cups. World Cup leader Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) hooked a tip and failed to finish the first run.

Raich, second in the first run behind teammate Rainer Schoenfelder - the reigning World Cup SL champion, finished in 1:51.06 with Italy's Giorgio Rocca second (1:51.27) and Schoenfelder completing the podium (1:51.55).

Ligety, the lone American - out of eight starters - to reach the final run, came out of the No. 37 start in the first run and was tied for 14th place. He lost time at the bottom of his second run but finished in 1:52.75. Paul McDonald (Bellevue, WA), a Dartmouth College student who qualified through NorAm racing at Jackson Hole, Wyo., before Thanksgiving, raced in his first World Cup and, starting 70th, finished 31st on the first run - just .05 away from reaching the second run.

"I made a few mistakes in the flats up there [on the second run], so that cost me a little bit of time, and then I saw the finish and I wanted to just get through the finish line," Ligety said. "That's a long slalom course...nearly a minute."

In the first run, where 14 skiers from start No. 31 back broke into the top 30, Ligety said he focused on finishing. He wasn't feeling any pressure. "I just skied like I know I can ski," he said. "I knew if I got to the finish, I could be in the top 30," which moved into the final run.

He shrugged off any concerns because Miller and Erik Schlopy (also Park City) failed to finish their first run "because you have to focus on your run. I can't help what they do."

"It didn't go the way we were planning," said Mike Morin, U.S. SL/GS head coach. "Ted was awesome, a big breakthrough...but overall we've got some work to do. The guys know it; they know they didn't get it done...and didn't get it done at home. It's a missed opportunity."

Miller, the World Cup leader, went out for the second day in a row during the first run but continued to lead the points after seven races. Miller, who won four of the five races to take a commanding World Cup points leader, is bidding to become the first American man to win the overall World Cup title since Phil Mahre in 1983. He hooked a ski tip on a gate in midrace and failed to finish; Saturday, he crashed in the first run of giant slalom.

The men head next to Val d'Isere, France, for a downhill and GS Dec. 11-12.

MEN'S ALPINE WORLD CUP
VISA Birds of Prey
Beaver Creek, CO - Dec. 5, 2004
Men's Slalom

1. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 1:51.06
2. Giorgio Rocca, Italy, 1:51.27
3. Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 1:51.55
4. Kalle Palander, Finland, 1:51.70
5. Andre Myhrer, Sweden, 1:52.18

15T. Ted Ligety, Park City, Utah, 1:52.75

Did not qualify for 2nd run:
Paul McDonald, Bellevue, Wash.; Jesse Marshall, Pittsfield, Vt.; Chip Knight, Stowe, Vt.; Tom Rothrock, Cashmere, Wash.

Did not finish 1st run:
Bode Miller, Franconia, N.H.; Erik Schlopy, Park City, Utah; Jimmy Cochran, Keene, N.H.

— Courtesy of US Ski Team