SÖLDEN, Austria (AP) — Olympic champion Marco Odermatt held off a challenge by home crowd favorite Marco Schwarz to win the season-opening men’s World Cup giant slalom in the Austrian Alps Sunday.

In a weather-delayed final run, Odermatt built on his slim first-run advantage of 0.01 seconds to beat the Austrian by 0.24 for his 46th career win, and 27th in GS.

It was Schwarz's first podium result in nearly two years, during which he suffered from knee and back injuries.

Atle Lie McGrath of Norway finished 0.03 further back in third.

“It's the perfect start into a new season," Odermatt said. “This is very good for getting into the season, to have this confidence already back.”

The second run started after an hour-long delay as snowfall vastly increased between the runs and course worker

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