BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, Austria (AP) — Massimiliano Blardone led Italy’s 1-2 finish Saturday, winning his fourth career World Cup giant slalom.
The 28-year-old skier was third after the opening leg but delivered a solid second run to complete the Franz Klammer course in a combined time of two minutes 10.75 seconds, edging Manfred Moelgg by 0.09 second.
Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety of the United States was third in 2:10.92 to retain his overall lead in the discipline with 190 points.
"It feels great to win here," Blardone said. "The first run was not the best for me, I made several mistakes. But I was very fast in the second run and made no mistakes."
Francois Bourque of New Richmond, Que., was 12th, Calgary’s John Kucera was 14th, and Jean-Philippe Roy of Ste-Flavie, Que., was 16th.
"It was a very difficult track with lots of turns and changes of direction," said Bourque. "We had to attack. This morning, I was feeling really good on my way down. Usually, when I get those feelings, it’s not a good thing."
The win puts Blardone in third place in the discipline standings with 150 points.
It was Moelgg’s first top-three finish in the event.
Ligety, who finished second at Soelden, Austria, and fourth last week at Beaver Creek, Colo., said he is ready for a victory.
"It’s not that much fun being second, third and fourth," he said. "To win would be nice, for sure."
Ligety, whose only World Cup victory came in a GS race in South Korea last year, finished sixth in the first leg before climbing three spots in the second. He is fifth in the overall standings with 230 points.
Mario Matt, one of the pre-race favourites, missed a gate and failed to complete the opening run. So did fellow Austrians Mario Scheiber and Reiner Schoenfelder, disappointing the home crowd in the southern Austrian resort that is hosting a World Cup men’s event for the first time since 1992.
Saturday’s race marked the World Cup’s return to Europe after a series of races in North America, with the season looking wide open after the defending overall champion was ruled out for months with injuries.
Aksel Lund Svindal was leading the overall standings when he crashed in a downhill training in Beaver Creek last week.
The new overall leader, Daniel Albrecht of Switzerland, finished fifth Saturday in 2:11.10 and leads with 317 points. He’s 12 points ahead of 2006 overall champion Benjamin Raich of Austria. Raich was fourth, 0.03 second behind Ligety.
The World Cup event continues with a slalom on Sunday.