Marco Odermatt. GEPA pictures.

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia — Olympic champion Marco Odermatt won a men’s World Cup giant slalom Saturday as the Swiss skier locked up the overall title.

Marco Odermatt won his fifth giant slalom of the 2023 season and increased his GS title lead to 140 points with two races remaining.

France’s Alexis Pinturault earned his first GS podium of this season. He delivered the second fastest final run moved up three positions to second place. Skiing that fast in the prevailing conditions while starting 26th is a significant accomplishment – it was a fantastic performance. Second in the GS season standings, Henrik Kristorffersen finished third but fell an additional 4o points behind Odermatt for the season discipline title.

Odermatt, who is the defending overall champion, secured the title again as the victory increased his lead over runner-up Aleksander Aamodt Kilde in the overall standings to 486 points.

Kilde was sitting out this weekend’s races and the Norwegian speed specialist can mathematically score only 400 points at next week’s World Cup Finals in Andorra.

“It’s another perfect day for me. Very, very warm conditions, it was not easy to stay focused on the start,” Odermatt said. “It wasn’t easy to ski but I’m very happy to win this race.”

Odermatt became the first skier to win the sport’s most prestigious prize in back-to-back seasons since Austrian standout Marcel Hirscher won eight times in a row from 2012-19.

Odermatt can also secure the giant slalom title this weekend. He currently leads Kristoffersen by 140 points. A second race is scheduled for Sunday, followed by the season-ending race next Saturday.

“It’s only done when it’s done. Henrik will for sure try to beat me tomorrow,” Odermatt said.

Second to start the final run was bib 44, Slovenian Stefan Hadalin. He delivered a terrific run and delighted his home crowd. Hadalin produced the fastest second run amd moved up 12 positions, finishing the race in 17th place.

Stifel US Alpine Team member River Radamus skied well during his second run. Radamus moved up one spot and finished in 15th place.

Taking advantage of his ideal start number first-time qualifier, Canadian Asher Jordan skied at a world-class level and finished the day 20th. He used the third fastest second run to move up 10 positions and score his first World Cup points. His teammate, veteran Erik Read ended the day 21st.

Final results and analysis of the fastest three and North American

Analysis of the fastest three and North American

The Associated Press contributed to this report.