(Photo credit: REUTERS/Gintare Karpaviciute)

Mikaela Shiffrin reached the podium at a World Cup giant slalom on Saturday for the first time in two years, coming in third place at the final event in the discipline ahead of Milan Cortina Olympics next month.

The defending giant slalom Olympic champion, Sara Hector of Sweden, held onto her opening run lead and edged American Paula Moltzan by 0.18 seconds for a final time of 2:23.86 to take the top spot at the Spindleruv Mlyn ski resort in the Czech Republic.

'It always feels amazing to have a win in the bag, but you always have to keep working,' Hector told reporters after the event. 'There's so many strong girls as you can see today. There's a lot of nice turns out there. I'm super happy that I crossed the finish line first. That's a really cool feeling.'

Shiffrin, the 2018 gold medalist in the giant slalom, trailed Hector by 0.23 seconds to earn a third-place finish.

Shiffrin holds the women's record for most career World Cup GS wins with 22. Her most recent podium appearance in the discipline came as runner-up in Slovakia in January 2024 -- 11 events ago.

Since then, she has experienced two significant crashes, including one later in January 2024 in a downhill on the same course that will be used for next month's Olympics and another, significantly more serious at her home GS in Killington, Vt., in November 2024. That crash left her with a puncture wound to the side of her abdomen, severe damage to her oblique abdominal muscles and lingering post-traumatic stress disorder.

Shiffrin's third-place finish Saturday continues strides she's made in the discipline recently. She finished fourth in Kronplatz resort in Italy on Tuesday, building on a fifth and sixth in the previous two events.

The Winter Olympics begin Feb. 6, with the women's giant slalom scheduled for Feb. 15.

--Field Level Media