ESPN Skiing

PARK CITY, Utah -- Going slow just feels wrong to Ted Ligety.

The gradual process of rehabilitating a knee that quite nearly needed surgery has moved at a pace not nearly hectic enough for the 24-year-old ski racer.

"It's tough just sitting around and kind of holding back. That's not in my personality type," Ligety said. "I'm always kind of fully gung-ho and don't really like to hold back."

While that's the perfect attitude for a young ski racer, it's not so good for someone who has spent the last three months taking the tiny steps that will get him back on snow soon and up to speed in time to defend the Olympic gold medal he won in the combined event at the Turin Games.

Ligety and his teammates on the U.S. Alpine team are training together this week and head to New Zealand at the end of the month.

"If it was up to me, pain-wise and comfort-wise, I think I could be skiing right now, but we're just trying to take it on the conservative side just so I am fully healthy and don't have any recurring pain come February," Ligety said Wednesday at the U.S. Ski Team's new headquarters and training center.

Ligety, who also won the World Cup overall giant slalom title in 2008 and the GS bronze medal at this year's World Championships, doesn't have much of a "conservative side." Instead of going on springtime hikes around Park City, where he grew up, Ligety's right knee was immobilized for four weeks when he came home.

Ligety partially tore two ligaments in his right knee during a training run at the U.S. Alpine Championships in late March. He crashed face-first into the snow at Alaska's Alyeska resort, leaving him with a bloody nose and lip and a right knee that hyper-extended a little.

He got up, limped over the fence that lined the course and climbed over, knowing he was hurting but not thinking it was serious.

"I was like 'OK, it's just going to be something that's going to hurt for the next couple of days. It's not going to be too big of a deal,'" Ligety recalled.

Ligety flew home to Park City, where an MRI showed just how serious it was. The medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments were partially torn and a bone was bruised, but the injury did not require surgery.

Had he needed an operation, Ligety likely would have been out until October and had very little time to train for the Vancouver Olympics.

"I was actually pretty thankful that it was just partially torn and I didn't have to go under the knife," he said. "I'm super psyched and lucky that I was able to avoid that."

Once he was out of the knee brace after the first month, Ligety was able to start his rehab with the basics like putting weight on it. He said he's almost to the point where he can run and jump, but not quite there. He did feel good enough, however, to get back on his mountain bike a couple weeks ago.

Although his knee was sore after he bounced along some of Park City's mountain trails, Ligety was thrilled to be getting back to another one of his summer routines.

U.S. Ski Team coach Sasha Rearick said Ligety has been able to take part in this week's training camp, but still only on a limited basis.

"It took time and therapy. It's the first time he's pretty much had a major injury," Rearick said. "For him to learn the steps of being progressive and not pushing it farther has been a good learning experience for him. He's followed the directions very well."

But that doesn't mean he liked it.

Ligety is psyched to finally be on skis again next month in New Zealand. He will have to start slowly, just as he did with his physical therapy, then gradually get back to his normal form.

"I'm going to have to take it slowly, which is going to be a challenge because I always like to push myself a lot," Ligety said. "I'll definitely be sensitive to how I'm feeling pain wise. If I'm feeling good, I'll take it step by step from there."

Ligety surprised with his gold medal in Turin, but will be among the favorites in Vancouver -- one of many changes he's gone through in the last four years.

Before Turin, Ligety said he was still living at home with his parents. He now has his own house in Park City, where he grew up and was a forerunner before the slalom in the 2002 Olympics. Ligety was just 17 then and not even a member of the national ski team.

He didn't think skiing in the next Olympics was going to be a realistic goal.

"I kind of had a big explosion once I made the team and improved really quickly," Ligety.

Quickly -- the way he likes it. But for now, Ligety is stuck in the methodical routine of physical therapy.

"I'm moving in the right direction. It's just been tough," he said. "I'm a very active person."

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press