By USSA

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – Ted Ligety (Park City) and Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.) stood on the podium Saturday, taking second and third place, respectively, at the Audi Birds of Prey super G. It was Weibrecht’s first Audi FIS Ski World Cup World Cup podium.

It was a foggy, snowy day at Beaver Creek, with the jury deciding to move the start down the hill for safety. The conditions were tough with soft snow on the side of the course and visibility changing throughout the race. However, the famed Talon Crew course workers were able to get the race off on time, despite the heavy snow that fell.

The early guys had a good go, allowing Weibrecht, Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley) and eventual winner Marcel Hirscher of Austria to lay down solid runs before the snow became thick. Expected winners Aksel Lund Svindal and Kjetil Jansrud of Norway, among others, got caught as the visibility got worse and lost time in the middle of the top 30. But as Ligety’s start number of 29 loomed, the sun poked through the clouds and the snow let up, allowing Ligety to throw down in front of the home crowd and ski into second.

“It’s tough when it’s like today—it’s a little bit inconsistent. The top couple guys who ran all had pretty good races and results and then the whole middle bunch were stuck in the brunt of the snow storm. Then during the last 20s, it got nice out again. I got lucky on that,” said Ligety after his finish. “It’s great to get a podium here in Beaver Creek.”

The result tied Ligety’s best World Cup super G, although he did win the FIS World Ski Championships super G in 2013. The last time he stood on a super G podium was in 2009 when he took second in Val d’Isere.

Weibrecht was stoked to step on his first World Cup podium. The racer owns two Olympic medals—a silver and bronze in super G—but the closest he had come in a World Cup was fifth.

Just behind Ligety and Weibrecht was Ganong, who took sixth place. Only two-tenths off of the podium, Ganong is showing his power as a speed skier this season. The other American story was Tommy Biesemeyer (Keene, N.Y.), who took most of the last two seasons off due to knee injuries. He attacked the course, starting 42 to take 11 place.

After winning two NorAms at Copper Mountain this week, Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.) also skied into the points, taking 28. Wrapping up the rest of the Americans, Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) was 35, Tim Jitloff (Reno) 36 and Bryce Bennett (Lake Tahoe) 42. Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah) did not finish.