The last time Ted Ligety felt this confident, this healthy and this fast on his skis was ages ago.
Oct. 25, 2015, in Soelden, Austria, to be more precise — the date of his last World Cup victory.
Since that day, the U.S. Alpine skier tweaked his back, frayed the cartilage in his hip, torn the ACL in his right knee and wrenched his back again — to the point where he needed season-ending surgery last January to fix herniated disks.
Almost immediately after the surgery he felt better.
Three months after the procedure, he was training again.