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Garmisch-PartenKirchen, Germany • Park City's Ted Ligety planned a low-key celebration Friday night after winning the gold medal in the giant slalom at the world ski championships.

According to Ligety, he was going to dinner with teammates and his parents before a day of training in preparation for Sunday's slalom.

"I can't completely blow it out," he said. "I'll save the big celebration for [later]."

Ligety gave the United States' its first gold medal of the world championships with an overpowering second run that moved him from fourth place to first.

He made no mistakes on a course softened by mild weather to edge Cyprien Richard of France by eight-hundredths of second.

Ligety overcame the pressure of being heavily favored in the giant slalom.

Speaking on a conference call, he said, "It's a lot different when you're racing as the big-time favorite, that's for sure. When I won in 2006, it was a surprise. Otherwise, I haven't really crushed it when I've been the favorite. ...

"To be able to do that and succeed under these kinds of expectations was really cool. I feel really lucky to come away with the win."

U.S. teammate Bode Miller, who placed 12th, gave Ligety some valuable advice before his second run.

"He told me where I could really hammer," Ligety said, "and where I needed to be smarter and more tactical. Also, where the bumps were starting to form."

Going into the weekend, Ligety suggested winning an Olympic gold medal was more significant than winning at the world championships.

How does he feel now?

"I still think the Olympic medal is more important," he said, laughing. "But the world championships medal feels pretty good."

Richard moved up from seventh after the first run.

Philipp Schoerghofer of Austria, second after the first run, took the bronze medal. He finished 43-hundredths of a second behind Richard.

"The second run was brutal," Schoerghofer said. "Ligety earned it. I was so nervous, I am glad it's over."

First-run leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway finished fourth, while Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, the overall World Cup leader, dropped from third into a tie for 13th.

Miller had the fastest second run but finished 12th after an error-filled first heat. He will skip Sunday's slalom, the final race of the two-week championships.

Ligety has won three of five giant slalom races on the World Cup circuit this season and was considered a top medal prospect.

The American was Olympic champion in the combined in 2006 and won the bronze medal in the giant slalom at the worlds two years ago.

Ligety has won the giant slalom World Cup title twice.

The start of the giant slalom was moved lower on the Kandahar slope and the course shortened by nine gates to avoid fog at higher elevation.

"Today was tough with the fog," Ligety said. "It was definitely good that we didn't run from the top.

"The top section was my specialty, being a little steeper up there, and I knew with this long flat at the bottom I would have to be good on the top section, because the flat is not really my specialty. ... I was lucky enough not to lose too much on the bottom."

Miller was 1.93 seconds off the pace after the first heat, when he slipped on soft snow and lost speed.

"I was skiing aggressive and I didn't think I was taking overly too much risk," Miller said. "The place where I [messed] up was on the flats and softer snow.

"The snow is softening up by the minute now and I went out on the soft [stuff] and couldn't get it to come around and just fell over. When you fall over there you lose a lot of time."

Ligety was the first racer out in the opening heat, but had to deal with a rapidly deteriorating course in the second run, when the top 30 start in reverse order.

The U.S. team also has two silver medals so far at the championships — Lindsey Vonn in the downhill and Julia Mancuso in the super-G. —