Austria’s Hirscher claims 1st World Cup victory by winning GS at Val d’Isere in French Alps

Hirscher wins World Cup giant slalom in France

VAL D’ISERE, France — Marcel Hirscher of Austria has claimed his first World Cup victory, winning a giant slalom ahead of Massimiliano Blardone of Italy on the testing Face de Bellevarde course in the French Alps.

Hirscher led after the first run on Sunday and finished in a combined time of 2 minutes, 16.28 seconds.

Blardone was 0.77 seconds off the pace and was joined on the podium by Benjamin Raich of Austria, who overtook Carlo Janka of Switzerland to become the overall leader.

It was Austria’s third win in as many days after Raich’s triumph in Friday’s super-combined and Michael Walchhofer’s victory in the super-G.

Janka fell after a few gates in the first leg on a hill where he clinched the last season’s giant slalom world title.