Ted Ligety, Alpine Skiing Star and Innovator, Is Retiring

Ted Ligety, the only American man to win two Olympic gold medals in Alpine skiing, met his 3-year-old son, Jax, after preschool late last month and quickly learned that Jax had earned a medal in an after-school ski program.

“Jax showed me his medal and I told him, ‘Daddy has some medals, too,’” Ligety said in an interview last week.

It took Ligety 30 minutes to find his Olympic prizes at his Utah home, but once he produced them Jax had a suggestion: The Ligety family ski medals belonged together, maybe framed on a wall.

“It was pretty cute,” said Ligety, who told the story to help explain another recent household decision: his retirement from the sport.

After seven victories in Olympic and…