ALTA BADIA, ITALY — Massimiliano Blardone pulled off a most startling comeback. For Ted Ligety, the challenging Gran Risa race represented a step backward after nearly a year of uninterrupted giant slalom success.
Sitting sixth after the opening run, Blardone put down a blistering second leg Sunday to claim his third victory on the Gran Risa and snap a two-year run of poor results that often relegated him to skiing’s minor leagues.
The Italian veteran finished with a combined time of 2 minutes, 46.49 seconds to follow up his victories in 2005 and 2009 in this race. Austrians Hannes Reichelt and Philipp Schoerghofer finished second and third, 0.35 and 0.57 seconds back.
“I was just full of adrenaline this morning ever since I woke up,” Blardone said. “It wasn’t easy staying focused these last two years, but I’ve had a lot of support from the people around me. I made a promise to my pregnant fiancée that I would win today, and now we can celebrate.”
First-run leader Ligety settled for fourth, 0.58 behind. Marcel Hirscher of Austria dropped from second after the opening leg to finish fifth, 0.71 back.
Ligety had won two of the three opening GS races this season, with Hirscher taking the other.
“Both of us underperformed today,” Ligety said. “Getting fourth is not something I strive for, I’m trying to win the GS races, and especially after the first run where you have the lead like that.”
Ligety’s result snapped a streak of six consecutive top-three finishes in giant slalom going back to February — a stretch that included his gold medal in GS at last season’s world championships and his third World Cup GS title.
“Everybody can be beaten,” Schoerghofer said. “All the top-ranked guys in GS can win.”
Ligety held a 1.11-second advantage over Blardone after the opening run, and it was difficult to ascertain where he lost so much time in the second leg.
“There’s no excuse for losing 1.7 (seconds) when you’re skiing as well as I am, and I’m not making huge mistakes,” Ligety said. “I’m going to have to see what happened there. It gives me some motivation for the next races.”
Blardone, 32, hadn’t won since his previous victory here in 2009 and now half of his six career victories have come on the Gran Risa.
Italian great Alberto Tomba holds the record of four victories on the steep and twisty course, which is often called the “holy grail” of giant slalom.
One of the few skiers who races almost exclusively giant slalom, Blardone has had to enter lowly FIS, European Cup and even Nor-Am Cup events to keep up his ranking points.
“It’s been tough, and I’ve felt lonely,” Blardone said.
Overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal was eighth.
