Marcel Hirscher will be expected to secure the giant slalom golden globe in Saturday's FIS World Cup race at Kranjska Gora on Sunday.

The Austrian secured a fourth successive giant slalom victory at Garmisch Partenkirchen earlier this month to stretch his huge lead over Ted Ligety to 188 points with two races remaining.

Defending giant slalom champion Ligety is on the verge of losing his crown as Hirscher only needs to finish 18th or better in Slovenia this weekend, but he will be eager to secure yet another victory in order to move closer to landing the overall title.

Hirscher's overall advantage was cut to 52 points when Kjetil Jansrud won the super-G on home snow in Kvitfjell last Sunday, so the leader will be determined to respond this weekend.

American Ligety has won the giant slalom World Cup four times in the last five years, but Hirscher stands on the brink of claiming the title he also won back in 2012.

Hirscher has won seven World Cup races this season and another success on Saturday would see him pass the record of 15 giant slalom victories in the competition by an Austrian man.

The legendary Hermann Maier and Benjamin Raich have also secured 14 World Cup wins in this discipline, but on current form Hirscher will fancy his chances of bettering that mark on Saturday.

Ingemar Stenmark was the last man to win five giant slalom World Cup races in a row back in 1981, but Hirscher is poised to match that achievement and end Ligety's reign.

Frenchman Alexis Pinturault is third in the giant slalom standings and looks set to remain there, as he holds a 93-point lead over fourth-placed Fritz Dopfer.

Only Hirscher has claimed more podium finishes that Pinturault's three this season in the giant slalom and the latter is poised to be in the top three in this discipline for a third successive year.