Val-d'Isère (France) (AFP) - Switzerland's world number one Marco Odermatt produced a masterclass of skiing to win the men's World Cup giant slalom at Val D'Isere on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Olympic champion was in a class of his own confirming his dominance of the first leg in the second run, for a combined time of 2min 03.62sec and record his third victory of the season.
Second-placed Manuel Feller of Austria was 1.40 seconds slower than the Swiss whilst Slovenia's Zan Kranjec finished third, 2.05sec adrift.
"Good results breed confidence and that confidence makes me ski fast," said Odermatt.
"I pushed the second run because you never know, if Feller did an incredible run for example.
"I always feel more safety when doing my thing.That means taking some risk.
"In Val d'Isere I need to ski smart.I'm always on the edge but it's not like I risked everything."
Odermatt said it was nice to be compared to two Austrian ski legends, Marcel Hirscher and Hermann 'The Herminator' Maier.
"It's nice to hear but in the end I don't care, I do my own thing," he said.
"I don't do it for records or be compared to other guys."
Odermatt added this win to his victory in the same discipline at Solden, Austria and a super-G in Lake Louise.
He has finished in the top three in all six World Cup races he has competed in thus far this term to lead the overall and discipline standings.
He holds a 140-point lead in the overall standings over Norwegian ace Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
"Every victory is different," said Odermatt.
"Solden was a perfect start to the season.Lake Louise I never been super-fast yet.
"Here is probably one of my best races ever, especially in giant slalom."
Odermatt will go again at Val d'Isere in Sunday's slalom.
