Germany's Petra Haltmayer has won the first women's World Cup downhill race of the season, finishing in a time of one minute and 34.71 seconds. Switzerland's Sylviane Berthod finished eighth.

It was Haltmayer's first World Cup victory on Thursday. The downhill race covered a distance of 2.6 kilometres at the Canadian ski resort of Lake Louise in Alberta.

Italy's Isolde Kostner was just 10 seconds behind Haltmayer when she powered over the finishing line. However, pundits were tipping Kostner as the hot favourite before the race after winning all three training runs.

The Austrian, Renate Götschl, came third, 17 seconds after Kostner.

The Swiss women's contingent at the World Cup only had one skier finish in the top 10, which was Sylviane Berthod with a finishing time of one minute and 14 seconds. Other Swiss such as Corinne Rey-Bellet only managed 19th place.

Switzerland's Corinne Imlig crossed the finish line 15 seconds behind her compatriot and ended up in 28th position.

The winner has taken $30,000 in prize money away with her. The second runner-up received $20,000 and the third $15,000.

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