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| - Unheralded French racer Mathieu Faivre trumped vaunted teammate Alexis Pinturault to win the men's giant slalom on Friday for his second gold of the world championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Faivre, who had won the parallel giant slalom on Tuesday, was Mr. Consistency down the demanding Labirinti course, twice recording the fourth-fastest times for a combined total of 2min 37.25sec. Italy's Luca de Aliprandini claimed his first ever career podium with silver at 0.63sec, while Austrian Marco Schwarz added bronze to his alpine combined gold (+0.87). Pinturault had led after the first run, but made a big mistake up high on the second run, when he skidded out of a turn and was unable to correct himself. Having already won a combined silver and super-G bronze in Cortina, Pinturault had been hot favourite for the giant slalom, but the French racer's day ended in tears. There was disbelief, however, for Faivre, who crumpled to his knees in the finish area when Pinturault's exit was confirmed and he realised he had won. The 29-year-old, with just one victory on the World Cup circuit to his name (in a Val d'Isere super-G in 2016), nailed his second run to perfection in testing icy conditions under clear skies. There was drama as Germany's Alexander Schmid, third after run 1, bombed out into the netting. Then came home favourite De Aliprandini, chasing a first podium placing. The Italian lost valuable time up the top section, pitched into the shade after bright morning sunshine for the first leg. But the 30-year-old held his form and eventually streaked across the finish line to whoops and applause from a partisan crowd drastically reduced in number because of Covid-19 restrictions. All eyes turned to Pinturault in the start hut. But his second effort was shortlived, frustratingly sliding wide on the seventh gate, and out of medal contention. Swiss hopes were loaded on to the shoulders of Loic Meillard, in fifth at 1.25sec after the first run, as teammates Marco Odermatt, Justin Murisier and Gino Caviezel all skied out. But Meillard's bid for a third medal in Cortina, after bronzes in the combined and parallel GS, was frittered away after a slight mistake saw him quickly lose his advantage on the hill. He eventually finished fifth (+1.77), just behind Croatian Filip Zubcic (+1.54), who had jumped seven places with a great second run. Reigning world champion Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway was just 15th, at 2.32sec, after the first run, but improved slightly on the second to finish ninth (+2.53). lp/gj/bsp
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