Pinturault wins Santa Caterina combined

Santa Caterina di Valfurva : France's Alexis Pinturault won the men's World Cup combined event atSanta Caterina on Thursday as Austrian rival Marcel Hirscher extended his lead in the overall standings.

Pinturault lay third after the downhill, 0.84sec adrift of Norwegian pacesetter Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, but held his nerve to lay down the fastest slalom run.

The Frenchman's combined time of 2min 19.71sec was 0.34sec faster than Hirscher, with Kilde, at 1.13sec, completing the podium. It wasPinturault's third successive combined victory and his 18th on the World Cup circuit.

Pinturault's 100 points for the victory sees him into third in the overall standings, on 465 points. Defending five-time champion Hirscher is in top spot on 713, with Norway's Kjetil Jansrud in second (482).