Pinturault leads Faivre for French 1-2 in World Cup opener

SOELDEN, Austria (AP) — Alexis Pinturault beat teammate Mathieu Faivre to lead a French 1-2 finish in the World Cup season-opening giant slalom on Sunday.

Pinturault held a slim lead of two-hundredths of a second over Faivre after the opening run but extended the margin to 0.54 in the final leg.

Zan Kranjec of Slovenia came 0.63 behind in third, followed by American duo Tommy Ford and Ted Ligety, who trailed by 0.70 and 1:09, respectively.

Pinturault finished runner-up to Marcel Hirscher in the overall standings last season and is widely regarded a main contender to succeed the retired record champion from Austria for the sport’s biggest prize.

Pinturault also won the traditional first GS of the season in the Austrian Alps when it was last held in 2016. The race was canceled due to bad weather in the past two years.

Sunday’s win was Pinturault’s 24th career victory, and 12th in giant slalom. He also won Olympic bronze in the discipline in 2018.

GS world champion Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway finished more than two seconds off the lead in 18th after almost skiing out in the second run.

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