Alpine Skiing: Gut Wins Seasons Opener At Soelden

SVLDEN, Austria, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Oct, 2016 ) - Switzerland's Lara Gut won the opening race of the World Cup season on Saturday with victory in the giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier of Soelden, Austria.

Gut won the overall World Cup globe last season and got her 2016/17 campaign off to a successful start. The 25-year-old, who won a downhill bronze at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, clocked 2:23.02 over the two runs to finish 1.44secs ahead of second-placed Mikaela Shiffrin of the USA and 1.

93 ahead of Italy's Marta Bassino, who was third.

Gut was the fastest in the morning's first run down and put in a solid display in the second to claim the victory. US ski queen Lindsey Vonn sat out the opening race, as she looks to focus on downhill and super-G races this season.

Austria's Anna Veith, overall women's ski champion in 2014 and 2015 under her maiden name of Fenninger, missed all last season after sustaining a bad knee injury and skipped Soelden to give herself more time to recover.