Soelden, Austria - Tanja Poutiainen pipped Kathrin Zettel by one hundredth of a second for victory in the alpine ski season-opener in which hosts Austria also had to swallow a grave knee injury from Nicole Hosp.

Hosp, 25, fell halfway through the first run on the Soelden glacier. She was airlifted to an Innsbruck clinic where examinations revealed the grave nature of the injury which will require surgery, according to the Austrian Press Agency APA.

Soelden, Austria - Austria's Kathrin Zettel claimed victory in the opening Alpine skiing World Cup race of the season Saturday, a women's giant slalom in Soelden.

Local hero Zettel recorded times of 1 minute 9.98 seconds and 1:13.01 for her two runs to claim victory in a combined time of 2:22.99 minutes.

Finland's Tanja Poutiainen finished in second place, nearly a second behind the winner with a time of 2:23.97 minutes followed by Austrian Andrea Fischbacher. (dpa)