[2] A week before his 18th birthday, Pinturault made his World Cup debut in March 2009 in Åre, Sweden.

His first podium came two years later in March 2011, a runner-up finish in giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

That fall, he was also a runner-up at Sölden in October 2011 and gained his first World Cup victory in February 2012, in the parallel slalom in Moscow, Russia.

Pinturault was unable to make the season start in Sölden in October 2012, as he injured his ankle while playing tennis and had to pause for three months.

A week later, he claimed a fourth World Cup win, his first in giant slalom, at Garmisch, Germany.