Cuche win men's giant slalom opener

Switzerland's Didier Cuche held on to the lead in the second run of the season-opening World Cup men's giant slalom on Sunday, edging American Ted Ligety in Soelden, Austria.

Cuche finished in a two-run combined time of two minutes 21.45 seconds on the Rettenbach glacier, 0.60 seconds ahead of Ligety.

Cuche was trailing Ted Ligety by 0.01 seconds at the final checkpoint in the second run, but used his gliding skills to open a wide advantage over his American rival on the flatter section before the finish.

"A lot of weight brings me so fast to the finish," Cuche said half-jokingly.

Carlo Janka of Switzerland was third, 0.95 seconds behind Cuche, as all three skiers held their positions from the opening run.

Jean-Philippe Roy of Rimouski, Que., finished ninth with a two-run time of 2:24.08.

"It's a good result," said Roy, Canada's top men's giant slalom skier last season, of his best career result in Soelden. "I knew that I needed to start good and keep on pushing. I ended up being a lot faster than I thought I was going to be."

Robbie Dixon of North Vancouver, B.C., was 16th in 2:24.65, while Francois Bourque of New Richmond, Que., finished 26th in 2:26.15.

Brad Spence of Calgary and Jeffrey Frisch of Mont-Tremblant, Que., did not qualify for a second run, finishing 34th and 39th respectively. Calgary's John Kucera failed to finish his opening run.

Cuche is the defending World Cup giant slalom champion, Ligety won the discipline two seasons ago, and Janka won the giant slalom at last season's world championships.

Ligety is a giant slalom specialist, but Cuche also excels in the speed events of downhill and super-G and is more adept at skiing the flats.

"Both runs I lost at least six-tenths to Cuche on the bottom. That's a big difference to make up in a race," Ligety said. "He's a downhill skier, so you definitely see his strength down there in the straighter, faster section.

"It's the first race of the year, so you don't know how fast you're skiing and you've really got to psych yourself up."

Skiing with a bruised leg, defending overall World Cup champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway veered off course near the end of his second run and did not finish.

U.S. star Bode Miller, the overall World Cup champion in 2005 and 2008, skipped the event. He plans to begin his season when the circuit resumes with men's and women's slaloms on Nov. 14-15 in Levi, Finland.

On Saturday, Tanja Poutiainen of Finland won the women's giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier.

The World Cup circuit shifts to Finland for men's and women's slalom races on Nov. 14 and 15.