After two major crashes the last two seasons and a battle with PTSD, American skiing standout Mikaela Shiffrin is entering the upcoming Olympic season on a more positive note.

Lindsey Vonn hooked a gate and did not finish but avoided injury in her opening race at the Alpine skiing world championships.

United States' Breezy Johnson holds the trophy after finishing third in a alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Val d'Isere, France, Saturday, Dec.19, 2020. Shiffrin was responsible for all 34 American podium results on the women’s circuit in the past two seasons, but three months into the current campaign, two team members have scooped top-three results as well. The season has also brought a string of career-best results for Nina O’Brien, Keely Cashman and AJ Hurt. “I am really excited about and proud of our team,” Shiffrin said after placing third in the year-end night slalom in Semmering, Austria, on Tuesday. That same season Shiffrin won her second overall title while Alice McKennis Duran and Jacqueline Wiles also scored podium results.

Czech Republic's Ester Ledecka speeds down the course during an alpine ski women's World Cup Super G in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)VAL D'ISERE – VAL D'Ester Ledecka edged Corinne Suter for her first win in a women’s World Cup super-G on Sunday, nearly three years after winning Olympic gold in the discipline. The Czech skier finished three hundredths ahead of Suter, the World Cup super-G champion from Switzerland who won a downhill on the same slope Friday. Brignone’s Italian teammate, Marta Bassino, was fourth, and overall World Cup leader Petra Vlhova finished sixth. The three-time overall champion was expected back in action at technical races in Semmering, Austria on Dec. 28-29.

Switzerland's Corinne Suter crosses the finish line during an alpine ski, women's World Cup Downhill, in Val d'Isere, France, Friday, Dec.18, 2020. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)VAL D'ISERE – VAL D'Corinne Suter won the season-opening women's World Cup downhill race Friday and Nicole Schmidhofer was injured in a high-speed crash that sent her through the safety fencing. Austrian women's team head coach Christian Mitter said Schmidhofer hurt her left knee and had abrasions on her face. Schmidhofer, the 2018-19 downhill champion and 2017 super-G world champion, was one of four skiers to get in trouble on the course, where visibility was a problem because of alternating shadow and sunny spots. Last season, Suter became the first skier to win both the downhill and super-G titles in the same season since American great Lindsey Vonn achieved the feat in 2015-16.

Slovenia's Martin Cater celebrates in the finish area after completing an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020. 41 starter Martin Cater won the first downhill of the World Cup season on Sunday. The 27-year-old Slovenian’s career-best result was eighth in his 38 previous World Cup downhills and he seemed unlikely to disturb an already unexpected 1-2 finish. He had a single top-10 result in his 41 career World Cup races, though that was as runner-up last year in Bormio, Italy. Defending World Cup downhill champion Feuz clocked the fastest speed-check at 116 kph (72mph) after losing time going wide at a turn in the mid-section.