Eighteen skiing champions, including Croatia's siblings Janica and Ivica Kostelic, raced down a 200-metre makeshift slope to mark 50 years of the World Cup.
Zagreb is the only capital hosting a FIS Alpine Ski World Cup race this year and organisers went one step further, preparing a ski run in the city centre.
The race in downtown Zagreb was broadcast live by Austria's ORF, Switzerland's SRF, Sweden's SVT, Eurosport, the BBC and Japan's J Sports.
Male skiers competing in the Snow Queen race skied down the slope built from Bakaceva Street to the Mandusevac fountain in the city's main Ban Josip Jelacic Square to draw starting numbers for the World Cup men's slalom set for January 5.
Russian Alpine skier Aleksandr Khoroshilov will be the first to slalom down Mt Sljeme overlooking Zagreb on Thursday.
The second starting number was drawn by Italian Stefano Gross, and the third by Andre Myhrer of Sweden. The starting number 4 was drawn by Italian Manfred Moelgg, while German Felix Neureuther will race as fifth, followed by overall World Cup winner Marcel Hirscher of Austria and the world's best slalom skier in 2016, Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway.
Croatian Alpine skier Ivica Kostelic will be heading Croatian skiers on Mt Sljeme for the eighth time on Thursday.