Mikaela Shiffrin paid homage to the victims of an airplane crash after placing tenth at Thursday's World Cup slalom race in Courchevel ahead of the world championships in Austria next week.
Chasing a landmark 100th World Cup victory Shiffrin said her return from injury was timely, but also appeared moved by events back home.
In her first appearance since November following an injury, the American was 2.04 seconds slower than rising Croatian star Zrinka Ljutic, who won her third World Cup slalom this season.
Shiffrin, who injured her abdomen in a fall at the end of November, raced in a slightly ginger fashion.
After the second run, the American insisted on paying her respects to the victims of the deadly air crash in the United States in which several American figure skaters were killed.
"A lot of my Team USA figure skating teammates were in that accident and everybody there, it was pretty heartbreaking," she said. "I just wanted to have a moment for that."
Shiffrin was back in action after undergoing surgery in December following what she described as a "stab wound" after a crash in the giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, on Nov. 30.
She hit a gate and tumbled through another before sliding into the catch fencing and was taken from the hill on a sled and subsequently to hospital.
Unfazed by missing out on win No. 100, the skier was focused on the worlds.
"It was a very important step in my recovery to see how I'm stacking up with the top skiers in the world," Shiffrin said.
"Before the world championships it was so important to get this start.
"I want to target the giant slalom and slalom and everything really depends on how the next 10 days, or until those races, how it goes in training.
"I'm catching up to the fastest in the world, so I have a lot of work to do, but I'm happy to be here and look forward to trying that."
Following her victory, Ljutic is fourth in the overall World Cup standings.
"I had no idea if I'm fastest or not," the 21-year-old said after her second run, which left her a full 1.26 seconds ahead of Swede Sara Hector in second, with German Lena Duerr in third.
"I just wanted to push and I was like 'screw it, I probably already lost my lead' so I tried to push all the way down and I can't believe it.
"I'm living the dream and don't wake me up," she said.
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