VAL d'ISERE, France (Feb. 13) – Never count out World Champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and welcome back Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, WY). The pair, along with Hailey Duke (Boise, ID) and Sarah Schleper (also Vail) will represent the U.S. Ski Team Saturday in slalom, the final women's event of the 2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

Vonn, who swept gold in super G and downhill in Val d'Isere, missed the giant slalom in order to rest her hand following surgery to repair a torn tendon in right thumb, but will start Saturday's slalom. It's a scenario she's familiar with.

"Lindsey took three or four runs this morning and everything felt good," said women's U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Jim Tracy. "They made some slight adjustments to help her grip her pole a bit better, but she's ready to go."

"The doctor said that the normal procedure is to not do anything for three months. Obviously I'm not going to stop skiing. That's not an option for me," said Vonn. " I'm a ski racer. I'm not going to just not do anything because I've cut my thumb. I'm going to do the best I can for the rest of the season."

At the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in San Sicario, Italy, Vonn suffered a horrific crash in downhill training, was taken by helicopter to Torino, where she was hospitalized overnight. She then returned to finish eighth in the downhill. The heroic performance earned her the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award, as voted by American fans, fellow Team USA athletes, former U.S. Olympians, and members of the media for best representation of the Olympic Spirit.

For Vonn, the rest of the season starts Saturday. For Stiegler, it marks the beginning.

Stiegler was well on her way to nabbing her first World Cup podium last winter with three top 10 finishes in slalom when a Dec. 28 giant slalom crash in Lienz, Austria, resulted in a fractured left arm, ligament damage to her right knee and multiple bruises. She returned to snow before Christmas in Colorado and began training full-time in Kirchberg, Austria just after the New Year.

"I'm so stoked to wear a bib that has a number on it instead of just a letter," said Stiegler, who has forerun a number of races, including a World Cup slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany just prior to the World Championships. "Basically I just started from the beginning and went step-by-step to get back into racing shape - my entire focus was on slalom. Trevor [Wagner, Technical Head Coach] put a lot of trust in me and I've been able to train with the other slalom girls, who are all really fast, so it's awesome to be back."

The Team had a successful training session Friday morning in nearby LaDaille resulting in a green light for Vonn and motivation for Stiegler, Duke and Schleper. Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) will not start slalom, but will begin preparing for next weekends World Cup races in Tarvisio, Italy.

"We knew Resi was going to be starting soon, we just didn't know when," said Tracy. "Her preparation has been really positive and it just happens that her first start in over a year will be at the World Championships. She's keeping it realistic and knows not to set her expectations too high. She's been smart about the entire return process and she'll be smart about tomorrow's race."

Duke and Schleper have both produced World Cup points in slalom this season with Duke nailing her first top 10 in Semmering, Austria. She also won back-to-back FIS slaloms prior to the World Champs. Schleper, a World Cup slalom winner, returned to the U.S. Ski Team this winter after missing two seasons to score points in only her second start.

UniversalSports.com will provide live Webcasting, with same-day coverage on Universal Sports TV. The first run is scheduled for 4:00 am ET and second run at 6:30 am ET. NBC Sports will provide a wrap-up highlight show from 3-5 p.m. ET this Sunday.