PARK CITY, Utah -- Birgit Heeb-Batliner of Liechtenstein pulled off a shock victory in a women's Alpine Ski World Cup Giant Slalom on Thursday.

The 30-year-old, second after the first run, kept her nerve to clock a combined time of two minutes 26.78 seconds and edge out first-run leader Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria by six hundredths of a second to claim her first ever World Cup victory.

Croatia's Janica Kostelic, who won the Olympic gold medal in the giant slalom at Park City in February, was third.

Heeb-Batliner had only ever achieved four podium places in her 10-year World Cup career, but she produced two error-free runs to leave the big names in the shade.

All of her previous best performances have come in giant slalom, including a third place in Park City in 1998. Her last podium place was nearly three years ago in Bormio, Reuters reported.

Kostelic produced a storming second run, setting the fastest time of 1:14.39 but Meissnitzer's chances of victory evaporated as she was only seventh quickest on her second run.

World Cup champion Sonja Nef of Switzerland, who won bronze in the giant slalom at Park City in the Salt Lake Games earlier this year, was another to suffer on the second run as she slipped from third to fifth.

Overall World Cup champion Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria finished a disappointing 24th.