France's Alexis Pinturault produced a near-perfect second leg to claim a memorable victory in the men's World Cup slalom here on Saturday.
France's Alexis Pinturault competes in the first run of FIS World Cup men's slalom in Val d'Isere, French Alps. Pinturault produced a near-perfect second leg to claim a memorable victory in the men's World Cup slalom.
The French skier, who was sixth after the first leg, scorched the second course down the testing, flood-lit Bellevarde piste in 47.33 seconds to time a combined total of 1min 36.55sec.
Germany's Felix Neureuther was second at 0.50sec, with reigning World Cup overall champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria in third at 0.57.
"It's just amazing," beamed Pinturault, whose previous win on the World Cup circuit came in last year's parallel slalom event in Moscow.
"There was lots of snow, but the slope was really great. The conditions were perfect apart from visibility at the top."
Pinturault, a two-time junior world giant slalom champion in 2009 and 2011, admitted that this victory, coming so soon after his recovery from torn left ankle ligaments, had put his triumph in Moscow in the shade.
"Technically it's my second victory, but it's a special feeling to have won in a classic event and it's massively satisfying to have won in front of my home crowd," said the 21-year-old, who has a Norwegian mother and whose father runs a hotel in the chic nearby resort of Courchevel.
"My goal for this slalom had been to produce a solid performance, my thoughts about topping the podium reserved for some time in the season but not so soon after recovering from injury. In that respect, it's a really great result.
"But there's no time to celebrate, it's only a few hours until the next race. Tomorrow's another day, another race."
Hirscher was in pole position after the first leg, timing 48.49sec down the steep and unforgiving course, 0.23sec ahead of teammate Manfred Pranger.
But Pranger slipped down the rankings after managing only a 28th best second run, and Hirscher then produced two terrible mistakes that saw him lose any chance of topping the podium here for a third time.
"I'm very happy with my third place because I skied as fast as I could on that second leg," Hirscher said.
"I risked a lot but also made a few mistakes. Overall, it's been the perfect start to the season for me: I've raced four technical events and finished on the podium each time."
Neureuther, also making a sharp return from a back problem that saw him out of action in September and October, proclaimed the "challenging" Bellevarde piste.
"It was a great slalom today," he said. "You had to fight and risk a lot, but still ski smart."
Swedish duo Andre Myhrer and Jens Byggmark finished in fourth and fifth, the latter's result all the more remarkable for the fact he lost a pole early on in the first leg.
American Ted Ligety, who has shown impressive form this season in winning two giant slaloms and finishing fourth in two super-Gs, finished out of the top 10, 1.63sec adrift of Pinturault.
The current leader of the World Cup overall standings, Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, opted not to race the slalom, but is slated to compete in Sunday's giant slalom.
"Pinturault wins in front of home crowd. Cool!! FYI he's half Norwegian. We should talk him into racing for Norway," tweeted Svindal.