American Lindsey Vonn sent a clear message to her World Cup rivals by dominating Wednesday's training run for the season-opening speed races.
The 24-year-old reigning overall champion flashed down the slope in a time of one minute, 53.31 seconds finishing ahead of Sweden's Anja Paerson (1:53.51) and Ingrid Rumpfhuber of Austria who placed third in 1:54.39.
Canada's Britt Janyk was fourth and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland finished fifth.
Vonn could have had an even faster time but she stood up with about 100 metres to go and coasted into the finish area.
"The course is in perfect condition, better than last year," Vonn said. "I had a really fun time out there. I never like tucking through the finish line in the training runs. I like leaving a little bit extra for the races."
After years of failing to reach the podium in Lake Louise, Paerson is starting to warm up to the Whitehorn Mountain course.
"The last couple of years I did really good in the speed events," Paerson said. "I feel real confident on this tour."
Many of the skiers wore protective masks Wednesday as temperatures dipped sharply overnight from the warmer than normal weather in western Canada over the past week.
Heavy snowfall that blanketted the course Monday night led to the cancellation of Tuesday's training.
The women return to the slopes Thursday for the final training run before Friday's downhill.
Copyright 2008 AFP Global Edition
