'In a different league': Odermatt wins another giant slalom

Swiss star Marco Odermatt has again shown that he has no equal in giant slalom, making it two out of two this season with a commanding victory in the French resort of Val d'Isère on Saturday.

In the first giant slalom race on the men's World Cup tour since Odermatt won the season opener in Sölden on 23 October, the 25-year-old picked up where he left off, winning by 1.40 seconds over Austria's Manuel Feller, with Slovenia's Zan Kranjec claiming third.

The victory was Odermatt's seventh triumph in the last 10 World Cup giant slalom races dating back to the beginning of last season, and his sixth straight podium across three disciplines to open the current campaign.

"It was a big fight again, I gave it everything," said Odermatt, who won the giant slalom on the Face de Bellevarde piste for the second successive season. "It's probably one of my best races ever, so it's a great victory here."

The Olympic giant slalom champion set up the victory with a scintillating first run on a course set by Swiss coach Helmut Krug, using a clean track with bib No. 2 to open up a 0.45 second gap over Feller. No other racer finished within a second of Odermatt's time.

Skiing last in the second run, Odermatt defied the ruts and bumps on the course to increase his lead over Feller at every split and record a decisive victory.

"I took the risk again," Odermatt said of pursuing an aggressive second run despite having time in hand. "The snow was so much better than in the first run. It allowed me to keep pushing."

The defending overall World Cup champion extended his lead in this season's title chase to 140 points over Norway's speed king Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who is not racing in the technical events in Val d'Isère.

After two brilliant runs, Feller was delighted with finishing second but like all Odermatt's rivals, he was left to rue the Swiss skier's dominance.

"I was orientating to Marco (on the second run) but he is just in a different league," Feller said. "He's so awesome, it's so easy for him. He is just getting better and better.

"I'm not 100 per cent happy because 1.4 (seconds) is just a big difference to first, but the result is awesome."

Following a disappointing and cautious first run that left him languishing in 11th place, Olympic giant slalom silver medallist Kranjec put down a second-run charge to make amends and take the provisional lead.

He then made himself comfortable in the leader's chair as none of the next eight skiers were able to dislodge him despite their first-run advantage, guaranteeing him a place on the podium.

"The first run I didn't ski on the limit, especially in the middle part — I turned too much, I didn't let the ski go," Kranjec said.

"So I know what I need to do in the second run but I didn't know that it would be enough for the podium."

It was — just. Norway's Atle Lie McGrath, who was fourth after the first run, finished only 0.03 seconds behind Kranjec and was eventually knocked off the podium into fourth place.

Meanwhile, home favourite Alexis Pinturault, who was born 59km by road from Val d'Isère in Moûtiers, was unable to add to his four World Cup wins on the Face de Bellevarde piste and finished 11th, while teammate Mathieu Faivre came 23rd.

Racing continues on Sunday in Val d'Isère with the first men's slalom competition of the season.