Alexis Pinturault. Photo: GEPA pictures.

COURCHEVEL, France — Home favorite Alexis Pinturault leads the men’s combined event at the world championships after clocking the fastest time in the super-G portion on Tuesday.

It is a beautiful day in Courchevel, France, but the race started with very little direct sunlight. The course was high-speed and featured a big jump at the top. Bib five, Courchevel’s Alexis Pinturault, was the first of the contenders to ski the combined super-G. He ignited his home crowd by skiing confidently and crossed the finish with a significant lead. He was comfortable with his skis and the terrain.

The next of the prerace favorites to ski was Austrian Marco Schwarz. Schwarz crossed only (+0.06) behind the French leader. Both men are capable of great slalom and it is clear they are the two most likely to stand on the top step of the alpine combined podium at the end of the race.

“It was pretty OK. I really tried to attack, I really tried to give my best,” said Pinturault, who was mostly clean but drifted once to make a left turn halfway through his run.

“I was really on the limit, but always on the good side of the limit. So, I could handle the whole way down without big mistakes and that was the main goal.”

Pinturault is a Courchevel native and his family is running a hotel close to the L’Eclipse course.

The Frenchman won the combined world title in 2019 and added silver two years later. He dominated the discipline when it was still part of the World Cup circuit until 2020, winning six of the last eight season titles.

Third-placed Raphael Haaser had 0.14 seconds to make up in the slalom run. His sister Ricarda Haaser won bronze in the women’s combined on Monday.

Austrian teammate Johannes Strolz, the Olympic champion, had a disappointing showing and trailed Pinturault by 2.48 seconds.

Norway’s prerace contender Atle Lie McGrath skied at a high level but found himself (+1.25) slower than the fastest contender. But because of his excellent slalom ability, he remains a potential medal winner.

Not far behind McGrath is Switzerland’s prerace favorite Loic Meillard. He is the only skier in the field to have earned 2022-23 World Cup podiums in both super-G and slalom. He (+1.34) is behind the lead and unlikely to take the victory but still capable of a podium.

After the super-G, the best-ranked North American is USA’s River Radamus. Radamus clearly liked the snow and it showed with confidence. He is ranked fifth and only (+0.59) behind Pinturault. Radamus doesn’t race slalom but is very capable of skiing the discipline well. He becomes an outside contender for the podium.

“It’s a really fun hill, challenging course set, lot of blind turns, so a lot can happen,” said the American, who competed in seven World Cup slaloms without scoring points.

“I like to think that I’m a confident slalom skier, but there is a difference between confident and World Cup level.”

Marco Odermatt, who is dominating the World Cup circuit, was disqualified for missing a gate shortly before the finish.

The Swiss skier was expected to have skipped the slalom run anyway, since he has not trained in the event after hurting his knee in a downhill in Austria in January.

Several other racers used the super-G portion as a training run for Thursday’s super-G, including Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

The Norwegian said he was not able to ski slalom since hurting his right hand in the same downhill race where Odermatt’s mishap occurred.

“This morning I woke up and I wanted to fight for a medal, but I tried slalom and with my hand, from Kitzbuehel, it’s not really working in slalom just yet,” Kilde said. “I tried one run and no chance.”

Combined super-G results and Analysis of the fastest three and North Americans

Men’s s alpine combined Super-G results

Analysis of the fastest three and North Americans

The Associated Press contributed to this report.