Levi, Finland - Jean-Baptiste Grange of France took victory in the opening men's slalom of the Alpine skiing World Cup season in Levi Sunday, beating American Bode Miller into second place.

Grange sealed the fourth win of his career in Finland with runs of 51.72 and 52.77 seconds for a total of 1 minute 44.49 seconds. Overall world champion Miller finished second with a combined total of 1:45.28 minutes for his two runs followed by Austrian Mario Matt in 1:45.42 minutes.

Grange led Ted Ligety of the United States and Miller after the first run but Ligety made a serious mistake on his second run to finish down in 22nd place.

Double Olympic champion Benjamin Raich lay fourth after the first run but the Austrian missed a gate early in the second run and was disqualified. (dpa)