He celebrated his first major success in 1999 when he won slalom at the Junior World Championships in Pra-Loup, France . Two years later he took part in World Cup races for the first time . His performance in slalom was not convincing, but in giant slalom he finished four times in the top ten and was fifth at the 2001 World Ski Championships in St. Anton .
At the 2002 Winter Olympics , Blardone finished eighth in the giant slalom. At the beginning of the 2002/03 season, he decided to compete exclusively in giant slalom races from now on. In this discipline, the Italian ranks among the absolute best in the world and has been among the top five in the giant slalom World Cup seven times since winter 2002/03, three times among the top three. In January 2004 he reached a podium for the first time in Flachau . He celebrated his first victory in the World Cup in January 2005 in Adelboden . From December 2004 he took part in the giant slaloms and occasionally in super-Gs and from March 2007 in super combinations. In both disciplines, however, he was only once in the points. From December 2009 he was only at the start in giant slaloms.
In the seasons 2005/06 and 2006/07 Blardone achieved second place in the giant slalom World Cup with one victory each. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver , he finished eleventh in the giant slalom. At the World Championships in 2005 and 2007 he did not get any top places, in 2009 he reached fifth place in the giant slalom in Val-d'Isère, just like eight years earlier. At the 2011 World Cup , he was only 30th in his specialty. During the winter of 2011/12 he won two World Cups in Alta Badia and Crans-Montana . After that, Blardone could no longer build on these successes, in the 2012/13 season a 5th place in Val-d'Isère was his best result, a 7th place in Lenzerheide was his last top 10 result for more than two years .
In the 2015/16 season , Blardone drew attention again with a third place in the giant slalom in Naeba, Japan . With 15th place at the season finale in St. Moritz on March 19, 2016, Blardone ended his active career after 153 starts in the World Cup.
Italy
