Alexis Pinturault tops Henik Kristoffersen to parallel giant slalom World Cup title

ByEurosport

Updated 27/11/2020 at 20:44 GMT

The Frenchman saw off his Norwegian rival by 0.11 seconds to secure his 30th World Cup title. "I would say it was a pretty good day. It is so fast, you have no real time to think and you just have to focus on your runs. Everything is going fast, you have to go fast and recover as fast as possible."

Alexis Pinturault claimed victory in the men’s parallel giant slalom at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Lech.

Henik Kristoffersen provided the opposition in the final on Friday, but he was no match for the Frenchman who won by 0.11 seconds.

Pinturault made a flying start on the blue course in Austria and held off a charge from Kristoffersen to take run one by 0.16s.

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The Frenchman gave his opponent an opening when going wide towards the top of his second run, and Kristoffersen briefly drew level, but Pinturault regained his composure to secure the win.

The victory was Pinturault’s 30th overall on the World Cup circuit, and in so doing he became the first man to win in six different disciplines - slalom, giant slalom, super giant slalom, combined, parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom.

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'A battle of giants' - Pinturault pips Kristoffersen to create history

Reflecting on his achievement in an interview on Eurosport, Pinturault said: “I think I have had a bit of luck in my generation because when you say six you have city events and parallel, which is more or less the same.

"Still it is a good result. It is really great. I think this format is a good way. It is much better than before as there is no luck and it is fair for everybody.

"I would say it was a pretty good day. It is so fast, you have no real time to think and you just have to focus on your runs. Everything is going fast, you have to go fast and recover as fast as possible."

Alexander Schmid completed the podium by seeing off Adrian Pertl by 0.58s to claim third place.

Stefan Luitz of Germany was the fastest man in qualifying, but he did not repeat the form and had to settle for seventh place.

World Cup overall champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde fell at the last-16 stage to Christian Hirschbuhl who went on the finish eighth overall.

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