Anna Fenninger made history by edging a thrilling super-G race at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, becoming the first woman to be Olympic and world champion in the discipline at the same time.
After a glitzy opening ceremony 24 hours earlier, the action got underway on Tuesday, albeit after a slight delay due to heavy winds at Beaver Creek.
The conditions saw the start point of the super-G brought forward and when the race started it was Fenninger who did enough to hold off Tina Maze.
Fenninger - who failed to finish in the super-G in Schladming two years ago -posted a winning time of one minute and 10.29 seconds, with the effort leaving her visibly exhausted.
The Austrian's time saw her to beat the 2013 victor Maze by a mere 0.3 seconds.
Maze appeared to be in prime position after beating the benchmark set by Lindsey Vonn, and allowed herself a wry smile after witnessing Fenninger beat her time.
American Vonn, the 2009 super-G world champion, added to her five world medals by collecting bronze.
Cornelia Hutter and Viktoria Rebensburg rounded off the top five, while Lara Gut - silver medalist in 2013 - could only place seventh.