Maze Wins Season-Opening Giant Slalom
Slovenia's Tina Maze won the ladies' opening giant slalom here Saturday with in third a sensational first World Cup podium for Austrian Stefanie Koehle.
The 29-year-old Maze finished in a total time of 2min 31.41sec, ahead of Austria's Kathrin Zettel in 2:31.83, in a season opener plagued by fog and bad weather.
Koehle, 26, grabbed her first podium with a time of 2:33.12.
Her best World Cup result to date had been a sixth place in the giant slalom in Lienz, Austria last December.
Maze's victory was her second in Soelden after 2005 and puts her in good standing for the season, as she bids for her first overall World Cup trophy this year.
Over the past three years, she had finished successively fourth, third and second in the overall rankings.
United States ski star Lindsey Vonn, who won here last year, went out in the second run, as did defending giant slalom World Cup winner Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany.
Liechtenstein's Tina Weirather and Italy's Federica Brignone also failed to finish as visibility made conditions difficult.
The second run in the afternoon, initially scheduled for 12:45pm (10:45GMT), had had to be delayed due to fog and eventually started an hour later than planned.
The World Cup opening was also tainted by the car crash death on Friday of 23-year-old Austrian skier Bjoern Sieber, who had competed in over a dozen World Cup races since 2009.
The Austrian athletes wore a black armband on Saturday in memory of their colleague.
Source: Agence France Presse
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