A strong second run propelled Sweden's Markus Larsson to victory in Monday's World Cup slalom race in Alta Badia, Italy.

Sitting in seventh after the first leg, Larsson stormed back to win the second race of his career with a combined time of one minute, 44.51 seconds on the Gran Risa course.

Markus Larsson of Sweden celebrates in the finish area after winning Monday's World Cup slalom race in Alta Badia, Italy.
(Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images)

"Our team is getting stronger and stronger," said Larsson, who won the slalom at last year's World Cup finals in Are, Sweden. "We've had a really good training program from our federation."

Ted Ligety of the United States finished second, 0.19 second behind, while Croatia's Ivica Kostelic was third, 0.48 back.

Thomas Grandi of Canmore, Alta., dropped from fifth after the first run to a tie for 14th, but still wound up as the top Canadian on a day when warm temperatures turned the course into a slushy mess as the race went on.

"I was very fast all the way to the last interval and made a big mistake just before the finish line," Grandi said. "I had to skate across the finish."

Alta Badia was the site of the first of Grandi's two career World Cup wins, a giant slalom victory in December 2004. He followed that up with another GS win two days later in Flachau, Austria.

No other Canadians completed both runs

Grandi was the only Canadian to complete both runs Monday.

Michael Janyk of Whistler, B.C., was unable to finish the second leg, dropping him to second in the slalom standings, well behind Larsson.

Patrick Biggs of Orleans, Ont., took himself out by missing a gate during the first run, while Ryan Semple of St-Faustin-Lac-Carré, Que., Jean-Philippe Roy of Ste-Flavie, Que., and Paul Stutz of Banff, Alta., failed to qualify for the second leg.

John Kucera, whose sixth-place World Cup overall standing is tops among Canadians, did not compete Monday. The Calgarian has not entered a slalom race this season.

Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway retained his spot atop the overall chase by finishing 20th.

Defending World Cup overall champion Benjamin Raich was disqualified for straddling a gate, bringing Austria's winless streak on the men's World Cup circuit to 11 races, the alpine power's longest drought since 1991-92.

Defending World Cup slalom champion Giorgio Rocca of Italy finished fourth, while Finland's Kalle Palander, winner of Sunday's giant slalom, was fifth.

The race was the first World Cup slalom held on the Grand Risa, which has been the site of giant slaloms since 1985.

With files from the Associated Press