It was a mixed day for the U.S. Ski Team and a memorable one for the Italian squad on home snow Sunday.

Local favorites Max Blardone and Davide Simoncelli finished first and second in the challenging giant slalom on the Gran Risa course, while Ted Ligety struggled with his grip to place seventh and Bode Miller failed to qualify for the second run.

Ligety was 12th in the opening leg, which was run at 1 Fahrenheit.

"First run I think a lot of the guys were taken by surprise by how icy it was," Ligety said. "I for sure was. I just felt like I had no grip on the top. I changed skis for the second run _ something with a little thicker edge _ but I just couldn't ski clean either run really."

Ligety is also recovering from stomach flu, which forced him to miss a few days of training this week.

"My energy is still not 100 percent yet," he said.

Still, a strong second run kept Ligety in contention for the giant slalom title.

Benjamin Raich leads the GS standings with 235 points, Blardone is second with 230 and Ligety is next with 192.

Blardone led both legs and clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 35.76 seconds for his fifth World Cup victory _ all in giant slalom. Simoncelli finished 0.43 seconds behind and Cyprien Richard of France moved up from sixth in the first leg to finish third, 1.63 seconds back.

Miller had a wild run all the way down and finished 33rd in the opening leg _ outside the top 30 that advance for the second run. The two-time overall World Cup winner sprained his ankle last weekend and will skip Monday's slalom here to gain some extra rest.

Blardone began training with his own personal coaches over the summer and did not attend the Italian team's offseason camps in the southern hemisphere. Instead, he trained on glaciers in the Alps.

"This is really satisfying, because I've made a lot of changes this year and put a lot of responsibility on my shoulders," he said. "But that has motivated me."

After crossing the finish line, Blardone dropped down and kissed the snow.

Blardone and Simoncelli also finished 1-2 here in 2005, while Simoncelli won in 2003.

"When the course is prepared well like this you can really attack and trust your equipment," Simoncelli said. "It's always steep, icy and fast here and that's how we like it."

Tommy Ford, a promising 20-year-old from Bend, Ore., gained his first World Cup points with a 24th-place finish.

Ford won the silver medal in slalom at last season's junior world championships, but didn't make quite such a good impression when he missed his start in the giant slalom in Val d'Isere, France, last weekend.