Petra Vlhova held on to her opening-run lead to beat Mikaela Shiffrin in a women's World Cup slalom that was the American's first race in nearly 10 months.
Vlhova also posted the fastest time in the second run and extended her advantage over Shiffrin to 0.18 seconds.
Austria's Katharina Liensberger was 0.57 behind in third, while the rest of the field, led by Swiss racer Wendy Holdener, was at least 1.35 off the lead.
Shiffrin hadn't competed since January, as her previous season ended prematurely after the death of her father, Jeff Shiffrin, followed by the cancellation of the season-ending races amid the coronavirus outbreak. Then, she sat out the first race of the new season in Austria in October with a back injury.
Wearing bib No. 1, Shiffrin had opened the race in Finnish Lapland with an error-free run. After, she said it felt ``pretty amazing'' to be back after such a long layoff and she was ``just really happy to be here.''
In a streak that started in January 2017, the last 27 World Cup slaloms have all been won by either Shiffrin, with 19 wins, or Vlhova.
Vlhova won the season-long slalom title last year, edging Shiffrin by 20 points, after the American had won it six times in the previous seven seasons.
Another women's slalom is scheduled for Sunday.
files from (The Associated Press)