Mikaela Shiffrin returned from a six-week injury lay-off to set the fastest time in the first run of the World Cup slalom at Are in Sweden on Sunday.
Shiffrin, who turns 29 next week, has been out of action since a heavy crash at the end of January on the Olympia delle Tofane course, which will be used for the 2026 Olympics.
The American produced a fluid opening run of 49.94 seconds which was a mere 0.02sec ahead of Swiss skier Michelle Gisin with the Croat Zrinka Ljutic 0.11sec off the lead in third.
Although Shiffrin, a five-time winner of the big globe with 95 World Cup victories to her name, is no longer in the running for the overall title, she is in pole position to secure the slalom globe for the eighth time.
She began the penultimate event of the season 188 points ahead of her only challenger German Lena Duerr who is 0.24sec behind in fourth on the first run.
The second run starts at 1230 GMT.
