"It just takes a little confidence," said Ligety, who had been training well in slalom, but struggling to finish two solid runs. "The slalom is just so quick, there's just so many different things coming at you that you have to have the confidence just to go at it full speed, and I think this will kind of help me go that way."

Cochran's only detour from the slalom points this season was last weekend in Adelboden. But he carried steam from a calendar year opening 25th in Zagreb to follow his third best slalom result ever, ninth in Alta Badia, Italy before Christmas.

"It felt great. It felt solid," Cochran said. "I think I probably could have been a little faster, but it's great for me."

"For both those guys, the goal was to get to the finish and score some World Cup points, and they did that, so it's a mission accomplished today," said U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Sasha Rearick.

Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) made a tactical error that sent him off course in the first run of the event, won by Croatia's Ivica Kostelic.

Ligety said he's looking forward to a different experience in these Olympics from Torino, where he won the combined gold medal in 2006.

"In a way I'm kind of coming in under the radar again, because (Lindsey Vonn) is kind of dominating so hard on that side, but it's definitely different this time around," he said. "I feel like I'm challenging in four events. I have a decent chance in every event I'm going to be racing."

OFFICIAL RESULTS

2010 AUDI FIS WORLD CUP

Wengen, Switzerland - Jan. 17, 2010

photo credit (Doug Haney/U.S. Ski Team)

Men's Slalom

1. Ivica Kostelic, Croatia, 1:40.34

2. Andre Myhrer, Sweden, 1:40.63

3. Reinfried Herbst, Austria, 1:40.85

4. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 1:41.04

5. Julien Lizeroux, France, 1:41.05

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8. Ted Ligety, Park City, UT, 1:41.40

12. Jimmy Cochran, Keene, NH, 1:41.89