Despite missing out on the top spot, Brignone was still thrilled with silver.

"Four years ago I was third, and before coming here I said if I come back with one medal that would be a great dream for me. Doing it at the first race, it's amazing," said Brignone who won giant slalom bronze in Pyeongchang.

"I'm getting better and better with my confidence this year, but giant slalom was always like OK, I'm doing a run OK, or some splits OK, but never two runs. Today, I was really focused."

Defending Pyeongchang giant slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States fell during Monday's opening run and was eliminated before vowing to bounce back from the disappointment.

"That's what drives me to try to keep working and improving, so I can try to make it so those things don't happen. But sometimes they still do happen and, unfortunately, it happened today," said Shiffrin, who is scheduled to go in Wednesday's slalom, a race she won at the 2014 Sochi Games. "I felt like there was a lot to look forward to, but, well, now we need to reset."