The Frenchman won last year's parallel event in what was his first victory of the 2020-2021 season.

The 30-year-old went on to become the overall season champion as well as the giant slalom and parallel winner.

In the women's event, 2021 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships gold medallists Marta Bassino of Italy and Katharina Liensberger of Austria are the frontrunners after their superior performances in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Liensberger narrowly missed out on the podium at the season opener in Sölden in Austria as she finished 0.09sec off bronze medallist Slovakia's Petra Vlhová.

Bassino, on the other hand, did not finish her first run and subsequently did not place.

She did come fifth in the 2020 Lech-Zürs event, bettering Liensberger's 16^th place finish.

"Nothing stands in the way of another great event," said Rupert Steger of the Austrian Ski Federation.

"With the stored snow depots, a very good base has been created for the upcoming races.

"Due to the snowfall in the past few days, the professional preparatory work of the Lech-Zürs employees and the cold temperatures that await us at night in the next few days, we can look forward to a successful event."

Austria's Roland Leitinger, who took silver in the men's event in Sölden, will not be competing at the weekend after seriously injuring his knee during a training session in Reiteralm in Austria.

With the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics taking place this season, the injury has left Leitinger devasted.

"Now history repeats itself," Leitinger said.

"I already missed the season in 2018 because of a torn cruciate ligament.

"At the moment I feel a great emptiness, I just have to let that sink in for now."

The women's parallel event gets underway at 10am local time tomorrow and the men's starts at 10am local time on Sunday (November 14).