The 22-year-old Austrian claimed her first World Cup win and place on the podium in a time of 1min 21.15sec.

"I was fast in training, but this is amazing," said Scheyer.

"It's great to be proud.

"And if an Austrian wins, I think it's the best that can happen." 

Lichtenstein's Tina Weirather collected her 29th podium finish of her career, as she finished 0.39 seconds behind Scheyer in 1:21.54.

Jacqueline Wiles of the United States completed the podium with a time of 1:21.69.

Downhill World Cup standings leader Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia finished fifth, just 0.03 seconds behind Switzerland's defending overall World Cup champion Lara Gut in fourth, who crossed the line in 1:21.70.

The women's downhill race was due to take place yesterday but due to poor weather conditions and heavy snowfall, it was postponed. 

Organisers decided to hold it today while the Alpine Combined event, originally scheduled for today, was cancelled.

The race may now be re-arranged at another venue or removed from the programme.

Today's downhill also saw American Lindsey Vonn return to World Cup action following injury.

The Vancouver 2010 downhill Olympic champion crashed while training in November and underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured humerus bone in her right arm.

Vonn was the defending champion in the downhill event at this venue and finished 13th.

Slalom specialist Mikaela Shiffrin of the US, who was not in action today, continues to lead the overall standings with 1,008 points.

Gut now has 693 in second, with Stuhec third on 584. 

There was further Alpine Skiing World Cup action today in Wengen in Switzerland, as Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen was victorious in the men's slalom event.

Kristoffersen took top honours in the slalom in Swiss village Adelboden last week, and once again proved to be too strong for the rest of the field.

The Sochi 2014 Olympic bronze medallist won in a time of 1:43.31.

Austria's Marcel Hirscher, the World Cup leader who is looking for a sixth straight overall title, took second place in 1:43.46.

Felix Neureuther of Germany rounded off the top three with a time of 1:43.94.

Kristoffersen narrowed the deficit at the top of the standings but Hirscher still holds a significant advantage.

The Austrian sits top on 973 with Kristoffersen second on 692.

Frenchman Alexis Pinturault completes the top three on 629.