In the men’s opener at Sestriere, Italy,...

In the men’s opener at Sestriere, Italy, Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway scored the first World Cup giant slalom victory of his career, finishing ahead of Italy’s Alberto Tomba in front of thousands of Tomba’s adoring fans.

Aamodt’s only previous World Cup victory was in a super-G at Aspen, Colo., last season.

Aamodt, whose career has been plagued by injuries and mononucleosis, skied two faultless runs down the Kandahar-Borgata course. His total time of 1:48.34 beat Tomba by .47 seconds.

Tomba, supported by a crowd of 20,000, trailed Aamodt by only one-hundredth of a second in the first run but was outrun badly in the second heat.

“I was not as aggressive as I could have been,” Tomba said. “However, I skied well and I am not disappointed.”

World Cup defending champion Paul Accola of Switzerland placed seventh. Austrian-born Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, seeking a record fifth overall title, was 19th. Girardelli was not at ease on the track where he suffered a near-fatal spill in 1989.