Austria's Marcel Hirscher

Austrian Marcel Hirscher on Sunday stormed to a fifth straight victory at the Alta Badia giant slalom, winning by a wide margin.

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen was second, a full 1.70sec adrift, and the Slovenian Zan Kranjec was 0.12sec further back in third.

"I knew I was fast but not that fast," Hirscher said.

The result puts Hirscher level at the top of the men's overall World Cup standings with Aksel Lund Svindal and also sees him open up a 55-point gap in the giant slalom standings over Kristoffersen.

In the Dolomites resort, Hirscher, who is bidding for a seventh straight overall World Cup title, had the fastest time in both runs.

The 28-year-old was an Olympic slalom silver medallist at Sochi in 2014, and with the 2018 Games swinging into view, he looks like the man to beat at Pyeongchang.

Source: AFP