SOELDEN, Austria - A seemingly endless battle with injuries and a costly blunder by her team couldn't stop Denise Karbon from returning to the top of the podium.

After struggling to overcome a shattered knee then a broken ankle — as well as a damaging plunge in the World Cup standings — the 27-year-old Italian won her first World Cup race in four years on Saturday at the season-opening giant slalom.

"It's my first victory in a long time," said Karbon, who tore down the Rettenbach course in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 23.21 seconds. "But then, it's the first time in a long time that I haven't been injured."

Karbon's health problems started when she was 13 and broke her femur. Her first day back on skis, she shredded her cruciate ligaments.

Karbon posted her first and only other victory at Alta Badia, Italy, in 2003. Then her luck turned.

In August 2004, she fell while training in Chile and destroyed her knee, tearing all the ligaments and meniscus and breaking the head of her tibia. In all, she has torn her ACL three times, requiring five operations.

She was still unable to compete in 2005-06, and when she arrived crying and afraid at the bottom of the foggy giant slalom course at the Turin Olympics, many thought her career was over.

To make matters worse, the Italian Ski Federation had forgotten to freeze her World Cup rankings to protect her starting position.

Plummeting from a top-30 starter down into the 80s, Karbon's late start numbers meant she was constantly skiing on rutted snow as she tried to claw her way back to the top.

But last season, Karbon regained confidence after placing ninth in Aspen, Colorado, seventh at Semmering, Austria, and third in Cortina, Italy. She also took bronze at the worlds in Are, Sweden.

"I couldn't be more surprised," Karbon said. "I went through a lot of tough times so this is quite an emotional time for me. I think of the people around me and how I had to fight, not just for myself, but to motivate and excite them."

Olympic giant slalom champion Julia Mancuso finished runner-up in 2:23.54 after a sizzling top section on her second run to come back from 12th position in the opening run.

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"I had a wake-up call after the first run," Mancuso said. "In the second run my technique was poor but I was much faster. When I got down I was excited to be top 10 and then everybody kept falling back. I was definitely surprised to be on the podium."

Austria's Kathrin Zettel — who broke her leg in the downhill portion of a super-combi race in Tarvisio, Italy, last March — was third in 2:23.73.

Olympic silver medalist Tanja Poutiainen, who led after the opening run, slipped to fourth after a disappointing second effort.

Overall World Cup champion Nicole Hosp of Austria dropped from third to 12th after struggling with her skis.

"I had a technical problem in the second run," said Hosp, who won the giant slalom at the season finale in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, last March, to edge teammate Marlies Schild for the coveted overall title. "From the beginning I was slipping in the turns. I tried to go for broke on the flats but it was too late. I'd lost too much time."