(CNN) Just 24 hours after being evacuated off the Andorra slopes on a sled with a hairline fracture of the left knee, the redoubtable Lindsey Vonn was back to take the lead in the two-legged World Cup super-combined event in Soldeu.
When the 31-year-old American took a crashing fall in the high speed super-G event Saturday, there were real fears for her future, particularly with a long history of knee injuries.
But X-rays revealed Vonn had not sustained ligament damage, although there was still the fracture.
Even with this more optimistic prognosis, few believed Vonn would risk her injury in a World Cup competition, particularly one which requires skiers to complete a super-G event, followed by a slalom test through gates, with the skier with the fastest time over the two legs declared the winner.
There was not a fairytale ending as, not surprisingly, Vonn lost ground in the slalom and eventually wound up 13th overall behind winner Marie-Michel Gagnon of Canada.
Vonn posted her intention to compete on her Facebook page on the morning of the event although she clearly still had doubts about racing.
"Drained my knee a few times and it's feeling a little better. Going to go up on the hill and see how it feels. Wish me luck!!" she said.
A two and a half hour delay due to adverse weather conditions would hardly have helped, but Vonn did eventually power from the gate from start number 20 and set the fastest time in the opening section, posting 57.04 seconds.
In second place was improving teammate Laurenne Ross with Lara Gut of Switzerland in third place.
Gut is battling with Vonn for the overall World Cup title, taking all the skiing disciplines into account, trailing her by just eight points going into Sunday's racing, but lost further ground as she failed to finish the slalom.
Vonn's 20 points left her 28 points ahead in that battle.
It's certainly been an eventful few weeks for Vonn, featuring in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, sporting only body paint, then wrapping up her 20th World Cup crystal globe while having to make an apology to a key sponsor for a Facebook posting, quickly deleted, which saw her smashing her skis with a hammer.