France's Pinturault wins giant slalom

• Tweet

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Alexis Pinturault of France parlayed a fast first run into his first World Cup victory in Sunday's men's giant slalom at Garmisch.

Pinturault was clocked at 1 minute, 14.23 seconds in his first run and turned in a winning two-run time of 2:32.42, 0.60 seconds faster than Austria's Marcel Hirscher, the overall World Cup points leader.

"I won here at the 2009 Junior World Championships and I knew it's a hill where I could do well so I couldn't have been happier to have won my first giant slalom here," said Pinturault.

Ted Ligety of the Untied States took third with a 2:33.05, a mere 0.03 seconds behind Hirscher.

Felix Neureuther of Germany led after the first run but stumbled in the second run due to some snow that caught his boot. He wound up in 12th place, 2.47 behind Pinturault. Neureuther is third in the overall standings.