SOELDEN, Austria — Amid the sun, a loud Austrian fanbase and long-awaited comebacks from the men’s tour, Bend’s Tommy Ford placed 21st in giant slalom in the opening alpine skiing World Cup of the season on Sunday.

His U.S. teammate River Radamus finished 11th.

Three Norwegian skiers exuberantly celebrated their sweep of the podium, and they had a former teammate now competing for Brazil joining in.

Alexander Steen Olsen screamed for joy after building on his slim first-run advantage to beat Norwegian teammates Henrik Kristoffersen by 0.64 and Atle Lie McGrath by 0.65 seconds.

“That is what we have been dreaming of, everybody on the podium,” Steen Olsen said.

The spotlights during the race, though, had been on Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and Marcel Hirscher, who both made successful comebacks to the circuit.

Former slalom World Cup winner Braathen, who returned after one year off and a switch from the Norwegian to the Brazilian federation, started 41st and finished 0.90 behind in fourth after posting the fastest second-run time.

Austrian great Hirscher, who came out of retirement after five years to start for the Netherlands, trailed Steen Olsen by 2.16 seconds in 23rd position.

The U.S. women’s ski team opened the World Cup season at Soelden on Saturday with its best giant slalom result in more than three decades. And, for a change, it wasn’t record-holder Mikaela Shiffrin leading the way.

Unheralded Katie Hensien placed fourth in the Austrian Alps, followed by Shiffrin in fifth and Nina O’Brien in seventh. Paula Moltzan rounded off the team’s strong showing in 11th.

Remarkably, Hensien and O’Brien sat out last season with injuries and returned to top-level racing after 19 months with career-best results.