American Mikaela Shiffrin, chasing her 100th World Cup victory, was fifth fastest in the first run of Thursday's slalom race in Courchevel.
In her first appearance since November following an injury, Shiffrin was 0.87sec slower than rising Croatian star Zrinka Ljutic, winner of two World Cup slaloms so far this season.
Shiffrin raced in a slightly ginger fashion after she injured her abdomen in a fall at the end of November.
Shiffrin underwent surgery in December after suffering what she described as a "stab wound" after crashing in the giant slalom at Killington, Vermont, on November 30.
She had 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.
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