France's Victor Muffat-Jeandet celebrates at the finish line of an alpine ski, men's World Cup combined race, in Wengen, Switzerland, Friday, Jan.12, 2018.
France's Victor Muffat-Jeandet celebrates at the finish line of an alpine ski, men's World Cup combined race, in Wengen, Switzerland, Friday, Jan.12, 2018. Alessandro Trovati AP Photo
France's Victor Muffat-Jeandet celebrates at the finish line of an alpine ski, men's World Cup combined race, in Wengen, Switzerland, Friday, Jan.12, 2018. Alessandro Trovati AP Photo

Sports

Muffat-Jeandet gets first career win in World Cup combined

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer

January 12, 2018 09:17 AM

WENGEN, Switzerland

Victor Muffat-Jeandet rose from 27th place after the downhill run to win a World Cup combined event on Friday.

The Frenchman got his first career win using the fastest run in slalom to finish 0.96 seconds ahead of Pavel Trikhichev of Russia.

Trikhichev, who also got a career-best result, had been 29th after the morning downhill. His previous best was 16th last Saturday in a giant slalom at nearby Adelboden.

Peter Fill of Italy was the best of the downhill specialists, placing third 1.15 behind Muffat-Jeandet. Fill edged Kjetil Jansrud of Norway off the podium by 0.01.

First-run leader Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria started his slalom run with 2.55 in hand over Muffat-Jeandet but quickly skied out.

World champion Luca Aerni of Switzerland also failed to finish the slalom.

The field was weakened by the winner of the previous combined this season, Alexis Pinturault of France, opting not to start to focus on training for Sunday's slalom.

Though men's and women's combined are on the Olympic program at the Pyeongchang Games next month, the event's long-term future is in question.

A mixed gender team event in parallel slalom debuts at the Olympics and the more dynamic, television-friendly racing format is being promoted by the International Ski Federation.