Kathrin Zettel

Lindsey Vonn hasn't missed a beat in her risky switch of ski manufacturers entering an Olympic year. Ted Ligety, meanwhile, has picked up right where he left off before injuring his right knee at the end of last season. Vonn finished a respectable ninth in her worst event — giant slalom — to open the World Cup season Saturday and Ligety placed second in the men's GS on Sunday behind Swiss veteran Didier Cuche. Vonn, the two-time defending overall World Cup champion, switched from Rossignol to Head in the offseason when the financially struggling French company asked its athletes to accept 50 percent cuts ... Read Full Story

SOELDEN, Austria (Reuters) - Didier Cuche ensured the Alpine skiing season opener remained in Swiss hands when he won the Soelden giant slalom on Sunday. Beaten into second place by compatriot Daniel Albrecht in the Austrian resort last winter, Cuche, who went on to win the discipline's World Cup, clocked a combined time of two minutes and 21.45 seconds to snatch his 10th World Cup victory. Last year's winner Albrecht was seriously injured in a training crash in Kitzbuehel on January 22 and was in an induced coma for three weeks. He has not sufficiently recovered to start the new season. Super-G world champion ... Read Full Story

SOELDEN, Austria (Reuters) - Finn Tanja Poutiainen beat local favorite Kathrin Zettel by the slimmest of margins to spoil the show for Austria in the opening giant slalom of the season on Saturday. Poutiainen won in a combined time of two minutes 24.96 seconds, leaving last year's winner Zettel just 0.01 adrift. Italy's Denise Karbon, fastest in the first run, faltered in the afternoon leg to finish third, 0.32 behind. To add to the Austrian team's woes, the first women's race of the season was marred by a nasty looking knee injury suffered by Nicole Hosp. The 2007 World Cup winner crashed in the ... Read Full Story

The alpine skiing World Cup circuit opens this weekend at the Austrian resort of Soelden with American star Lindsey Vonn leading a host of skiers with one eye firmly set on Olympic glory. The 2010 Winter Games fall in February 12-28, bissecting the season which sees the women race 34 competitions and the men 35 in 25 resorts in Europe and North America. "From the first race in Soelden to the end of the selection period in January it'll be impossible to ignore qualifying for the Games," acknowledged Swiss men's head coach Martin Rufener. "It's quite possible that this winter some skiers won't value ... Read Full Story

Tanja Poutiainen of Finland has won the opening race of the ski season, taking the giant slalom title on the Rettenbach glacier by just one one-hundreth of a second. Poutiainen clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 24.96 seconds on Saturday. Kathrin Zettel of Austria was second and Denise Karbon of Italy was third. Lindsey Vonn of the United States was ninth. Former overall winner Nicole Hosp of Austria crahsed and was airlifted to an Innsbruck hospital with a right knee injury. She lost control on the upper section of the course and slid downhill headfirst for about 54 yards before coming to ... Read Full Story