KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — For Sandro Viletta, it was a stunning Olympic gold. For Ivica Kostelic, it was the same old Olympic silver. For the American hopefuls, it was Olympic disappointment.
The Swiss winner took advantage of a blistering slalom run to beat the favored Kostelic in Friday’s super-combined, a race held in spring-like conditions with snow turning to slush.
The temperature soared to 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit) shortly before the start of the slalom leg.
Defending champion Bode Miller made a big mistake during his downhill run and finished sixth, while world champion Ted Ligety had a ragged slalom leg and placed 12th.
Miller was only 12th in the downhill after swinging out wide and far off the racing line midway down the course. He had the seventh fastest slalom leg to move up six spots.
“The tactics were there and the skiing was there but you can’t make mistakes like I did today,” Miller said.
Ligety was 18th after the downhill and had only the eighth-fastest slalom.
“The snow was a lot better than I thought it would be and the course-set was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I just skied conservatively,” Ligety said. “To put it simply, I choked — for sure. That’s disappointing.”
While both Americans struggled, they still have races to look forward to.
Miller will be among the favorites for Sunday’s super-G and Ligety is the outright favorite for Wednesday’s giant slalom.
Viletta stood only 14th after the downhill portion but put down the second-fastest slalom run to finish in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 45.20 seconds — then waited as one skier after another failed to catch him.
Kostelic came close, but the Croatian instead ended up becoming the first skier to win three silvers in a single Alpine skiing discipline, finishing 0.34 behind. Christof Innerhofer, the Italian who took silver in downhill, ended up 0.47 behind for bronze in an event he was worried he might not be able to enter due to his chronically bad back.
When the race was over, Viletta was smiling from ear to ear, Kostelic was shaking his head and Innerhofer was celebrating again.
The 28-year-old Viletta has won only one World Cup race in his career, a super-G in Beaver Creek, Colo., in December 2011. His best super-combined result came in Wengen, Switzerland, last month when he was fourth.
In all, 11 racers did not finish their slalom legs, with several of them looking downright foolish as they lost control and tumbled down the mountain head over foot.