Alexis Pinturault leads dominant French one-two in first run at Soelden

Updated 27/10/2019 at 10:40 GMT

France’s Alexis Pinturault lived up to the pre-season billing as he led the first run of the men’s Giant Slalom at Soelden on Sunday.

Alexis Pinturault of France in action during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Giant Slalom on October 27, 2019 in Soelden, Austria.

Image credit: Getty Images

Following the retirement of Marcel Hirscher over the summer Pinturault has been tipped as the new star of Alpine Skiing alongside Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen and Marco Odermatt of Switzerland.

Kristoffersen rode out first in the No. 1 bib but he struggled a bit at the top of the run, a common theme throughout the morning, and had to settle for a time of 1:07.90.

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'It was really fantastic!' - Pinturault reacts to victory

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27/10/2019 at 13:24

By contrast Pinturault flew down the course at a blistering pace, attacking the corners and clocking in at 1:07.10.

Pinturault lives up to the billing with blistering first run

It looked as if Odermatt would be the closest challenger to Pinturault alongside Slovenia’s Zan Kranjec, but then Pinturault’s close friend Mathieu Favre took the slope.

Favre matched his compatriot stride for stride and finished just 0.02 behind the leader as the French team put themselves in control ahead of the second run.

Favre matches Pinturault for thrilling second place in first run

There were good performances from Manuel Feller and Tommy Ford as well as they put themselves into the top ten whilst Ford’s legendary compatriot Ted Ligety secured a top 15 position.

Canadian Erik Read shot himself into fifth place with a fantastic run from bib No. 25, which came after a switch to Atomic skis.

You can watch the second run live on Eurosport at 11:50 GMT.

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