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SOELDEN, Austria -- Lara Guts start to the Olympic season couldnt have been more different from the one she had four years ago. Gut convincingly won the season-opening womens World Cup giant slalom Saturday for her fourth career victory -- but first in the discipline -- with a dominant performance that sent a message to her rivals less than four months ahead of the Sochi Olympics. It was a sharp contrast to September 2009, when the Swiss skier dislocated her hip in GS training and missed the entire season -- including the Vancouver Games. "This is sensational," said Gut, who became the first Swiss female to win a GS since Sonja Nef placed first in Santa Caterina, Italy, in January 2003. "Winning the first race of the season is amazing," Gut said. "Its great to have a GS winner in Switzerland again after all these years. ... Ill take it step by step this season and I dont think about Sochi yet." Watched by 11,000 visitors in warm and sunny conditions, Gut led the field by 0.77 after the opening run before finishing in an aggregate 2 minutes, 25.16 seconds. Kathrin Zettel of Austria came 0.84 back in second and Olympic champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany took third, 1.28 off the lead. The favourites struggled as overall World Cup champion Tina Maze of Slovenia was 3.05 behind in 18th, and world GS champion Tessa Worley of France trailed Gut by 3.31 in 21st. Four-time overall champion Lindsey Vonn skipped the race and plans to start her season next month after recovering from knee surgery, while American teammate Mikaela Shiffrin, who won the slalom title last season, came 1.62 behind in sixth for her career-best World Cup result in the discipline. "Im really happy, and happy that the race is over, that we have that under our belt," Shiffrin said. "Its cool to see the other girls out here and who has improved. I think today was a pretty good day." Following surgery, Gut struggled to get going again in the technical races after impressing as a 17-year-old rookie in the 2007-08 season. "After my injury it took a lot of time to build up my GS skiing again," Gut said. "It was easier in super-G and downhill. But now I am back to what I can do in GS as well." During summer training under new coach Rudi Huber, Gut focused on avoiding mistakes. "The last years I was used to ski fast but I also did a lot of mistakes," she said. "So we practiced skiing clean, and thats what I did today, skiing clean but still pushing it to the limit." Gut said she was surprised by her dominant performance as the conditions didnt really suit her. "There was much distance between the gates and the snow was pretty aggressive," said Gut, who has won two super-Gs and a downhill. "Its not easy to find the right mixture of skiing carefully and attacking. Usually I am not so good at it." Maze started her record-breaking season last year with a convincing win in Soelden but never found her rhythm this time. "She didnt ski," her coach Andrea Massi said. "She didnt get one turn right." Julia Mancuso, the 2006 Olympic champion in the discipline, was another big name struggling. She finished the first run in 31st but was allowed a second run after Emi Hasegawa of Japan was disqualified. "It was just slow," Mancuso said. "The snow was good. I guess for me I wasnt in race mode. Its just a hard race." Former overall champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch lost balance in a right turn early in her opening run and went off course. The German, who finished runner-up to Maze in the overall standings last season, said she didnt want to put much weight on the first race of the season. "I didnt come far but my skiing felt good," Hoefl-Riesch said. "Its better for me to take some risks than hold back and finish two, three seconds off the lead. Ive watched the other girls and I am pretty sure I will be right there with the best in GS this season." According to Hoefl-Riesch, Gut was the only racer who didnt hold back. "As its the first race, many skiers were too cautious. Lara Gut didnt do that, she raced like in training last week," said Hoefl-Riesch, who is yet to win a GS in her career. "I thought (Maze) would be very strong again. Last season she was incredibly dominant. Its good for me to see that she is beatable again." Nike Air Max Billigt Online . As for regular Olympic spectators, theyre being warned that most travel insurance policies wont cover acts of terrorism or war. The Games in southern Russia, which run from Feb. 7-23, are being staged amid unprecedented security and under global warnings of danger. Billiga Skor Nike Air Max . "Theyve been good against everybody," he said. Carlos Gomez launched a three-run homer and Matt Garza battled into the seventh inning for his first win in four starts to help the Brewers continue their mastery of the Rockies with a 7-4 victory Saturday. http://www.sverigeairmax.com/ . The kind he has every so often. The kind he has when Dwyane Wade sits. James scored 43 points -- 25 in a bewildering first-quarter shooting display -- and Chris Bosh added 21, leading the Miami Heat to a 100-96 win Tuesday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who played their first game without injured All-Star guard Kyrie Irving. Nike Air Max Skor Billigt .ca presents its latest weekly power rankings for the 2013-14 Barclays Premier League season. Nike Air Max Sverige Online . He will just have to wait a little longer. Bester grabbed an early lead before Scotlands Darren Burnett took over and ran away with the mens singles lawn bowling final 21-9 on Friday.So Yeon Ryu shot a tournament-record nine-under-par 63 in the opening group in the first round of the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic. First round leaders -9 So Yeon Ryu (Kor)-7 Haru Nomura (Jpn)-7 Candie Kung (Tai)-5 Xi Yu Lin (Chn)-5 Christel Boeljon (Ned)-4 Rachel Rohanna (USA)-4 Na Yeon Choi (Kor) -4 Catriona Matthew (Sco)-4 Lydia Ko (Nzl)Others-3 Brittany Lang (USA)E Lexi Thompson (USA) The South Korean was top of the leaderboard from start to finish throughout Thursday to secure a two-shot edge over her nearest rivals in San Francisco. Ryu was bright and alert from the start and signed for a bogey-free round that gave her an advantage over Taiwans Candie Kung and Haru Nomura of Japan.Well, I was kind of lucky to tee off really early, Ryu said. I had a really fresh green, no wind. Also San Francisco is really cold in the morning, but this morning it was just the perfect temperature.Then today everything was just great. My tee shot was great. I only missed one green today. I shot 17 greens. My putting was really good. Candie Kung mixed nine birdies with two bogeys Ryu needed just 27 putts on the first day, while Nomura carded her lowest round of 2016 with a seven-under par 65 in the opening session.ddddddddddddKung bounced back from two opening bogeys by following up with nine birdies on the day.Lin Xi Yu, of China and Frances Christel Boeljon are tied for fourth at five-under par. Lin is coming off her second missed cut of the year.Ryu may have the longest streak going but it hasnt translated into first-place prize money. She has struggled to break through since winning the Canadian Womens Open in 2014. That was also the last time she held a first-round lead. Lydia Ko is five strokes off the pace One thing I can say is I work really hard and my whole team works really hard. Hopefully its going to pay off next three days, Ryu said.Defending champion Lydia Ko is tied for sixth at four-under par with a group that includes Catriona Matthew, Choi Na-Yeon and Rachel Rohanna. Ko battled in the first round, hitting just nine of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens. Also See: LPGA Tour latest news Lee snatches Hawaii title Jang claims HSBC crown Golf live on Sky Sports 4 ' ' '