Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister stole glory from world champion Sonja Nef on Saturday when she won the opening giant slalom of the Alpine skiing season.
Nef, the defending World Cup champion, had underlined her status as the overwhelming favourite by setting the fastest time in the first leg on Soelden's Rettenbach glacier.
But world downhill champion Dorfmeister, 0.15 seconds behind after the first leg, produced a storming second run to beat Nef by 0.41 seconds and give the Swiss her first defeat in giant slalom since December 9 last year.
Frenchwoman Regine Cavagnoud, back after a bad crash in off-season training, finished third with a two-leg time of two minutes 29.98 seconds, 0.60 seconds behind Dorfmeister, according to provisional results.