US star Mikaela Shiffrin marked her return from injury by teaming up with Breezy Johnson for a stunning combined gold at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach on Tuesday.
Johnson, who won the blue riband downhill on Saturday just weeks after returning to action following a 14-month ban for three anti-doping whereabouts failures, was fourth fastest in the opening downhill section.
Shiffrin, the most successful skier of all time with 99 World Cup victories to her name, then kept her cool to clock the third fastest time in the slalom to give the US pair a winning aggregate time of 2min 40.89sec.
It was a 15th world -- and eighth gold -- for Shiffrin in just 18 championship starts.
The 29-year-old’s presence at Saalbach had been brought into question after she suffered an abdominal puncture wound in a crash in Killington in November.
That sidelined her for two months before she made her comeback at the night slalom in Courchevel last month.
More headlines were made in Saalbach when Shiffrin initially said she would not race the combined, after Lindsey Vonn had evoked a “Dream Team” match-up boasting 181 World Cup victories.
But Shiffrin rowed back on that decision, all the while citing post-traumatic stress disorder for the reason she would not defend her giant slalom title later this week.
The US federation took the decision to make team match-ups based on current rankings, meaning Shiffrin got Johnson, with Vonn deprived of a run-out with the best alpine skier ever.
“So many things had to happen since how long it has been since we were 11,” Shiffrin said of her long relationship as competitors and friends with Shiffrin.
“We needed a new event entirely. It’s amazing for me. Bree did so well this morning, like she has been recently executing day in day out.”
Johnson hailed Shiffrin a “legend”.
“It’s super cool to be with her. She’s been on top for a decade or more, it was nerve wracking for her but even more so for me. We are so positive it is great!”
The Swiss pair of Lara Gut-Behrami and Wendy Holdener claimed silver, at 0.39sec, while the second of four Austrian teams -- super-G champion Stephanie Venier and Katharina Truppe -- took bronze a further 0.14sec adrift.
World super-G bronze medallist Lauren Macuga of the United States had set the fastest time in the downhill, but her partner Paul Moltzan saw that lead dissipate on her slalom run, the duo eventually finishing fourth, at 0.64sec.
Vonn’s hopes of troubling the podium all but evaporated after she finished 2.51 seconds off Macuga’s 1min 41.60sec pace down the 2.9km-long Ulli Maier course in the Austrian resort in the morning’s action.
That result left Vonn’s slalom partner AJ Hurt with a mountain that proved impossible to climb in the slalom. They finished 16th, at 2.98sec.
