Olympic bronze medallist Lara Gut of Switzerland capitalised on a mistake by in-form American Lindsey Vonn to claim a rare home victory in Saturday's downhill race in St Moritz.
The 23-year-old Gut, an eight-year veteran of the World Cup circuit, timed 1 minute, 43.82 seconds down the 2.8km course that featured a vertical drop of 705m, with Austria's Anna Fenninger in second at 0.32 seconds.
Hungary's Edit Miklos was the long-time early leader, the Romanian-born, Austria-based racer clocking 1:44.40 after starting second in brilliant sunshine with the temperature at minus 10C. She eventually finished third.
Gut made up for a slow start by blasting down the bottom half of the Engiadina course, where icy conditions caught many racers out, for her 12th World Cup victory and the first downhill win in St Moritz for a Swiss racer since 2001.
Slovenia's Tina Maze, the overall World Cup leader and joint Olympic gold medallist from the Sochi Games, threatened but faded badly at the end with a couple of edging mistakes.
Vonn, fresh from notching up her 63rd World Cup victory to pass the previous all-time record of 62 set by Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proll, had looked to be in prime position to take the win after leading at the two top intermediaries.
But the 2010 Olympic champion overcompensated around one tight corner, her skis stuck and she was in danger of cartwheeling out and into the netting.
The 30-year-old did well to right herself and stay on track, but the mistake cost her two valuable seconds as she finished 23rd, allowing Gut to breathe a sigh of relief in the finish area.
Reigning world downhill champion Marion Rolland of France was absent after injuring herself while falling in a World Cup race at Cortina d'Ampezzo last week.
The Frenchwoman, who was a surprise winner of the speed event at the Schladming championships two years ago, tore ligaments in her right knee in the fall and will miss next month's world champs in Colorado.
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