German Stefan Luitz set the fastest time in the first two runs of the World Cup parallel slalom in Lech in Austria on Friday. Most of the favourites made it through to the last 16 which will be raced in four head-to-head knock-out rounds starting at 1745 GMT. Luitz was second to Alexis Pinturault in the first run but won the second to record an aggregate time of 45.77, 0.03sec better than the Frenchman. Another German, Alexander Schmidt, was third. Norwegians Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (6th) and Henrik Kristoffersen (8th), two other big favourites for the overall World Cup title, also finished among the 16 fastest. rg/pb/lp