Maze masters Lake Louise

The Slovenian clocked a time of 1:50.98 to beat Austria's Anna Fenninger by almost half a second.

Lindsey Vonn finished eighth at the season-opening women's World Cup downhill, offering a glimpse at how far she has fallen off the pace while recovering from knee surgery.

Almost a year after her last World Cup showing, the four-times World Cup champion finished 0.85 seconds behind the Slovenian winner.

The 30-year-old Vonn, almost at home in a resort where she has won 14 World Cup races, will get a chance to close the gap on her rivals with another downhill on Saturday and a Super-G on Sunday.

Maze, the joint gold-medallist in Sochi, clinched her second victory of the season in one minute and 50.98, making it clear that her all-round qualities are intact following her slalom win in Levi last month.

Austria's Fenninger finished second in 1:51.43 while Liechtenstein's Tina Weirather was third in 1:51.49.

The race also marked the return to competition of 2012 world champion Marion Rolland of France after a year off. She finished nearly two seconds off the pace.

1. Tina Maze (Slovenia) 1:50.98

2. Anna Fenninger (Austria) 1:51.43

3. Tina Weirather (Liechtenstein) 1:51.49

4. Laurenne Ross (U.S.) 1:51.52

5. Cornelia Huetter (Austria) 1:51.65 .

6. Kajsa Kling (Sweden) 1:51.75

7. Julia Mancuso (U.S.) 1:51.79

8. Lindsey Vonn (U.S.) 1:51.83

9. Stacey Cook (U.S.) 1:51.88

10. Viktoria Rebensburg (Germany) 1:51.99