Svindal returns with a World Cup win in Lake Louise

The 32-year-old missed most of last season due to a torn Achilles he sustained playing soccer.

But on Saturday he recovered from an error on the upper third of the course to record a time of 1:47.29 and win by one hundredth of a second ahead of Peter Fill of Italy in second. American Travis Ganong was third.

"That one mistake was a little bit bigger than it should have been and I definitely thought that I lost it there," Svindal said.

"Lake Louise has always been good to me. After being away from the World Cup for a full year, a year and a half really, it's a good place for me to start."

On Sunday there will be a super-G, an event Svindal has won three times at Lake Louise.

Fellow Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud, who was the overall World Cup champion in super-G and downhill last season, came ninth in the opening event.