American Ted Ligety passes a gate in the first run of the men's giant slalom competition at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games on Wednesday. Photo: IC

US alpine ski star Ted Ligety proved he is the unbeatable king of the ­giant slalom on Wednesday, sealing the second Olympic gold of his ­career in convincing fashion.

The 29-year-old reigning world champion clocked the fastest time of 2 minutes 45.29 seconds after two runs down the Rosa Khutor course, finishing in front of a pair of Frenchmen.

Steve Missillier, with only one World Cup podium to his name, was a surprise second at 0.48 ­seconds, ahead of Alexis Pinturault who took bronze, 0.64 seconds off the pace.

The 29-year-old Missillier, 10th after the first run, took the lead after an impressive second run and managed to keep his lead as a number of favorites came down the course.

But Ligety had a huge 1.50 ­seconds lead on the Frenchman after the first run and was never in doubt for gold, even racing in 30th place down a deeply rutted course.

For the cool American, this is a second Olympic title after combined gold in Turin in 2006.

A four-time world champion - including twice in giant slalom - he has never had much success at Winter Games in his preferred ­discipline, failing to finish in Turin and coming in ninth place in Vancouver.

He finally has a first medal at the Sochi Games after a disappointing 12th place in the super-combined and 14th place in the super-G.

The bronze for 22-year-old Pinturault is his first major medal.

Ligety, Pinturault and Austrian hotshot Marcel Hirscher had been widely seen as the favorites to win before the race.

But Hirscher, the current World Cup leader in giant slalom, fell short of the podium by 0.30 seconds.

His compatriot Matthias ­Mayer, Olympic downhill champion, was another surprise, coming in a strong sixth place.

But the 23-year-old's start met with controversy as the French team complained that an exception had been made to International Ski ­Federation (FIS) rules to let him race.

Mayer only competed in three FIS giant slalom races this season, below the required minimum of five.

AFP - Global Times