Local favorite Kathrin Zettel won the opening race of the Alpine skiing World Cup in Soelden, Austria, with a giant slalom victory on Saturday.

Zettel improved from second place after the first run to take her third World Cup win with a combined time of two minutes 22.99 seconds.

Finland's Tanja Poutiainen, who clocked the first run's best time, was in second place 0.98 second behind.

Another Austrian, Andrea Fischbacher finished third, 1.48 seconds off the pace, ahead of Italian Denise Karbon who won the discipline's World Cup last season.

But World champion Nicole Hosp of Austria made an early mistake in the second run and ended a disappointing 28th.

The women's World Cup now moves to Levi, Finland, in three weeks for a slalom.