THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Massimiliano Blardone mastered a fast-deteriorating course to beat World Cup overall leader Marcel Hirscher in a giant slalom on Sunday.
Blardone trailed Hirscher by 0.02 seconds after the first leg, then raced through soft, rutted snow to clock a two-run time of two minutes 33.77 seconds.
It was the 32-year-old Italian’s second win of the season and he celebrated by leaping on to the airbag fences surrounding the finish area to strike celebration poses.
"It’s another oldie who has won today," Blardone joked in Italian, after veterans Didier Cuche and Benjamin Raich won super-G races here the previous two days.
Hirscher was 0.16 behind in second, and his Austrian teammate Hannes Reichelt soared from 11th to finish third, trailing Blardone by 0.82.
Canada’s Jean-Philippe Roy didn’t finish, leaving his hopes of qualifying for the World Cup finals in doubt. The 33-year-old from Ste-Flavie, Que., went down on his hip in the soft conditions. The top 25-ranked skiers qualify for the finals, and Roy dropped from 25th to 29th Sunday with one race to go.
"I’m going to have to man up in the next one," Roy said. "I was upset. I knew I had to have a good race today. World Cup finals is always a big goal. I’ve done it, I think, four times and two times I couldn’t go because I was injured. It would be nice to make it again."
Dustin Cook of Lac-Saint-Marie, Que., was 42nd after the first run, while Toronto’s Phil Brown was disqualified for missing a gate.
With 80 World Cup points earned, Hirscher extended his lead in the overall and discipline standings with just three weeks of racing remaining. He leads by 92 overall from Ivica Kostelic, the defending overall champion from Croatia who is currently sidelined after undergoing knee surgery.
"It’s perfect," Hirscher said, despite letting his morning lead slip. "I didn’t lose 20 points, I won 80. In GS races, it’s very difficult in these soft conditions."
Blardone, Hirscher and defending GS champion Ted Ligety of the United States have combined to win all seven races in the discipline this season.
Ligety placed ninth, 1.29 behind Blardone, after being seventh-fastest in the morning. His fears of finding tough conditions in the warm afternoon sun proved correct, as only four top-10 racers from the first leg held their place in the final top 10.
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway had been third but was flipped through the air in a spectacular crash after his right wrist caught a gate. He reported feeling neck pains but no serious injury.
Even Blardone and Hirscher posted only the 18th and 20th fastest times, respectively, in the second run which finished approaching 2 p.m. local time (1300 GMT) on another sunny day in the Swiss Alps.
Still, Hirscher built a commanding position in the World Cup standing, as third-placed Beat Feuz of Switzerland failed to qualify for the second run Sunday and now trails by 95 points.
Feuz can regain ground next weekend when three speed races are scheduled at Kvitfjell, Norway, while technical specialist Hirscher stays home to train on the World Cup finals course at Schladming.
"I know (Feuz) loves Kvitfjell. It definitely suits him and I’m pretty sure he will take his chances up there," said Hirscher, who turns 23 on Friday.
Hirscher leads Ligety by 132 points in the GS standings with two races left. The American has won the title for three of the past four seasons.
Blardone is third, 187 back, having added victory on a hill where he skied during childhood vacations to his win at Alta Badia, Italy, in December.
His seventh career World Cup win came after days of dedicated training on soft snow.
"I’m good at checking the weather forecasts," Blardone said. "I came here and was completely at home with the conditions."
Cuche and Raich stood eighth and sixth, respectively, after the first run but could not find speed on the slushy surface.
In his final home World Cup race before retiring, 15th-placed Cuche was unable to write a fairytale ending for 13,000 spectators who chanted his name in the finish area.
"I’m a bit disappointed. I wanted to give them a better result," said the 37-year-old Swiss star, who blew kisses to the grandstands.
Bode Miller of the United States sat out his third straight race on the Nationale course to help his left knee heal after minor surgery last week.
— With files from The Canadian Press.