SOELDEN, Austria (Oct. 14) - With a bright sun and cloudless sky as a backdrop on the Rettenbach Glacier, the U.S. men's and women's alpine teams staged time trials Friday to complete the starting lineup for the opening World Cup giant slaloms Oct. 22-23.

The format for each was better-of-two runs; men skied first with the entire tech team competing for two places and then the women ran with four athletes chasing three open spots; 10 U.S. women and seven men will ski in the first races. Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) and Tom Rothrock (Cashmere, WA) edged two-time Olympian Chip Knight (Stowe, VT) for the men's final starts while Lauren Ross (also Stowe), Stacey Cook (Truckee, CA) and Kaylin Richardson (Edina, MN) earned the women's places for the opening weekend with Libby Ludlow (Bellevue, WA), coming back from knee surgery in the spring, just off the pace.

"It was a fun time, definitely fun to watch - everyone put some urgency into their runs. All three guys skied really well and it was close," Men's SL/GS Head Coach Mike Morin said. "We had everybody in the trial and Ted and 'Rotty' were skiing just as fast as the whole team; they were right in there."

Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA), GS bronze medalist at the 2005 World Championships, led the first run and World Cup overall champion Bode Miller (Bretton Woods, NH) was the fastest in the final run. "Ted was just a tenth of a second off Bode in the second run...yeah, the slalom specialist making a strong move in GS," Morin said.

Women's Coach Trevor Wagner preferred a different format for their test. "We ran after the guys and that was really more realistic conditions for where these girls will be running, back in the 40s or 50s, We re-dressed the course a little, slipped it out ...It's a pretty rough course to begin with - the top part has some [steep] terrain you have to deal with, but that's what it's going to be like when you're starting in the back."

The four women completed their two runs and then the rest of the women's group took a couple of runs, Wagner said. "We wanted the four to focus on their run, not have to worry about holding up anyone, or anything else...and when they were done, everyone else jumped in there for two, three, four runs. Conditions were perfect, not a breath of wind, no cloud in the sky, great snow...just perfect."

Originally, the women's trial was to be for two start places, but veteran Caroline Lalive (Steamboat Springs, CO) crashed Thursday in training, injuring her left knee and right wrist. She's expected to be examined at the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colo., during the weekend.

The U.S. men will take some down time Saturday, then drive to the nearby Pitztal Glacier each day for super G training Monday, Morin said. Wagner said the women will have two days off before resuming their GS training.