Henrik Kristoffersen wins Kranjska Gora giant slalom as Marco Odermatt secures World Cup title

Henrik Kristoffersen continued his strong form at the end of the Alpine Ski World Cup season by taking the Kranjska Gora giant slalom in Slovenia, on Saturday (12 March).

The PyeongChang 2018 silver medallist, who claimed back-to-back slalom wins at Garmisch-Partenkirchen two weeks ago, finished 0.33 seconds ahead of fellow Norwegian Lucas Braathen to win his second GS of the campaign.

Olympic champion Marco Odermatt completed the podium to clinch the discipline crystal globe with two races remaining.

The Swiss, who has won four out of five giant slalom events this season, holds a 207-point lead in the World Cup standings over Kristoffersen with just 200 points left available.

In the overall rankings, Odermatt is 269 points ahead of second-placed Aleksander Aamodt Kilde who opted to skip the races in Slovenia.

Kristoffersen was pleased with his performance: "I'm super happy, the second run was really nice skiing especially into the bottom pitch here I skied really nicely. So super happy, congrats to Lucas and Marco. I'm super happy that we are just two winners in GS this season," the 27-year-old Norwegian told FIS.

Last year's GS and overall globe winner Alexis Pinturault, who was leading after first run, ended in 11th place, 1.33 seconds off the pace.

Kranjska Gora will stage another giant slalom event tomorrow, Sunday 13 March.

The final men's GS of the season will take place on Wednesday (16 March) at the World Cup Finals in Courchevel-Meribel, France.