Lindsey Vonn showed great courage to set the fastest time in the first run of Sunday's Alpine Skiing World Cup combined event, but it was Marie-Michele Gagnon who claimed victory in Soldeu- El Tarter.
Vonn suffered a hairline fracture to her left knee when crashing in the super-G in Andorra on Saturday, but that did not stop the legendary American from making an astounding return to the slopes just a day later.
The 31-year-old, who has already sealed the downhill globe, produced a remarkable run of 57.04 seconds in the super-G to lead after the start was delayed by 90 minutes to enable fresh snow to be shifted from the Aliga course.
But Vonn, wearing braces on both knees, slipped back to 13th overall following a time of one minute 45.59 secs in the slalom to move 28 points ahead of Lara Gut in the overall standings after the Swiss failed to finish the slalom.
It was Canadian Gagnon who topped the podium after surging up from 10th after the first run courtesy of the second fastest slalom time of 45.66secs to record an overall time of 1:43.66secs, which ensured she claim her second World Cup win.
Wendy Holdener was runner-up as a result of the quickest slalom run of 45.60secs which left her 0.20secs back from Gagnon over the two runs, while Anne-Sophie Barthet completed the podium.
Vonn had fluid drained from her knee before competing and is due to undergo further examinations on Monday, but passed a major test of her own in Andorra.