Ted Ligety wins men's GS by 1.61 seconds

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia, March 10 (UPI) -- Ted Ligety of the United States won Saturday's World Cup giant slalom in Slovenia by a wide 1.61-second margin over Alexis Pinturault of France.

The margin of victory was the largest of the men's World Cup season and kept him in contention for the season GS title.

The American veteran won both runs Saturday and finished with a combined time of 2 minutes, 22:47 seconds. Pinturault finished just behind Ligety in the second run by ending the day with a combined time of 2:24.08.

"I was proud of the effort I put in today," said Ligety. "I think the last couple of races I was having trouble putting in the right amount of intensity and today I was able to find it and ski great both runs."

Austria's Marcel Hirscher, the leader in the GS points race, placed third. Ivica Kostelic of Croatia finished 25th and overall points leader Beat Feuz of Switzerland failed to qualify.