Austria's Marcel Hirscher claimed arecord fifth alpine ski victory in Val d'Isere as he continued hisscintillating early-season form with a commanding World Cup giantslalom win Saturday. Hirscher led from the first run and made sure with a faultless secondleg to post a combined time of 2 minutes 8.49 seconds, 1.29 secondsahead of Germany's Felix Neureuther on the Face de Bellevarde courseFrance's Victor Muffat-Jeandet delighted home fans with third placefor his second straight top-three finish after earning his firstcareer podium in the giant slalom last week in Beaver Creek. Defending World Cup champion Hirscher has now made it three World Cupwins in a row after winning the giant slalom and capturing a firstcareer super-g win in Beaver Creek last weekend. He takes his World Cup win tally to 34 and moves ahead in the overallstandings, advancing to 360 points, 43 ahead of Norway's Aksel LundSvindal. The technical specialist and will be hoping to extend hislead in Sunday's slalom. Norway's Henrik Kristofferesen, who was lying second from the firstleg and chasing his second-ever giant slalom victory, crashed out onthe second run. France's Thomas Fanara, who was fourth after the first run, wasanother casualty on the second leg. -- SPA 16:02 LOCAL TIME 13:02 GMT تغريد
