Marco Odermatt wins Kranjska Gora giant slalom race

Kranjska Gora - Swiss skier Marco Odermatt won Saturday's World Cup giant slalom race in Slovenia's Kranjska Gora after he finished the first run fourth. His fellow countrymen Loic Meillard placed second (+1.06), followed by Austria's Stefan Brennsteiner (+1,09) in third place.

With a total of 625 points, and just one more giant slalom race on the Workd Cup schedule this season, Odermatt has taken over as the overall giant slalom leader.

France's Alexis Pinturault is second with 25 points behind, but remains the overall World Cup leader with 1,100 points, trailed by Odermatt, who is just 31 points behind.

Štefan Hadalin placed 18th as the best Slovenian, with Žan Kranjec 22nd to keep his seventh overall place in the giant slalom standings.

Hadalin is meanwhile ending the giant slalom season in 29th place.

France's Noel wins slalom event

France's Clement Noel won the men's Alpine Ski World Cup event in Kranjska Gora on Sunday, while Austria's Marco Schwarz secured the overall win in the discipline by finishing seventh ahead of the season finale in Switzerland's Lenzerheide on 17-21 March.

It was a double French win in the slalom event of the 60th Vitranc Cup, as Victor Muffat-Jeandet was second (+0.62), while third place went to Ramon Zenhäusern of Switzerland (+0.71), who won the event in Kranjska Gora two years ago.

The only Slovenian in the final run was Štefan Hadalin, who finished 25th as he fell 3.88 seconds behind the winner.

Hadalin is currently in 23rd place in slalom standings, which earns him the appearance in the season finale next week. The battle for the small crystal globe is, however, over as Schwarz's seventh place today was enough for him to secure it.

Sunday's two runs in the popular Slovenian ski resort took place in tough conditions, with heavy snow making it difficult for the competitors to fully concentrate on their runs due to low visibility.

Alexis Pinturault of France dropped out in the final run, which means that he will need to defend his 31-point advantage in the overall World Cup standings ahead of Marc Odermatt as the season wraps up in Switzerland's Lenzerheide.