Mikaela Shiffrin won't team up with Lindsey Vonn in skiing dream team at Alpine worlds

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin is not going to pair with Lindsey Vonn in a dream team at the Alpine skiing world championships.

Shiffrin announced that she needs more time for training as she regains her form from a deep puncture wound and won't be entering the new team combined event at worlds.

Vonn, who returned to the circuit this season at age 40 after nearly six years of retirement, had been campaigning for a spot alongside Shiffrin in the event, which involves one squad member racing downhill and another racing slalom. The times of the two athletes on each team are added together to determine the results.

While Shiffrin returned last week and placed 10th in a slalom in Courchevel, France, after nearly two months out following a crash in Killington, Vermont, she said she's “continuing to take it one step at a time as I work to get back to 100%” and that “each day so far has come with a new set of challenges."

“With that said, I need to keep my energy focused on preparing for the giant slalom and slalom races during world championships, and will not be able to participate in the team combined,” Shiffrin said on her social media accounts.

The women’s team combined event is scheduled for next Tuesday — two days before the women’s giant slalom and four days before the women’s slalom.

Shiffrin and Vonn are the winningest female racers in World Cup history with 99 victories for Shiffrin and 82 for Vonn. Vonn is the all-time leader in World Cup downhill victories with 43 and Shiffrin holds the mark in slalom with 62 — both records among men and women.

“I think it would be probably one of the coolest things in ski racing to have 181 World Cup victories on one team,” Vonn said Monday, before Shiffrin's announcement. “I don’t see how that wouldn’t be incredible. I don’t know how she is physically, I haven’t talked to her because she just came back. So I don’t know if she’s even competing in the combined. But if there is a chance to compete with her, I would absolutely love to.”

Vonn could now pair with Paula Moltzan instead. Both Vonn and Moltzan grew up skiing at Buck Hill in Minnesota and Vonn was Moltzan's hero.

“We’re from the same small town,” Vonn said. “That would be really cool to race with her. But I would be happy with any of my teammates to compete with.”

Vonn and Shiffrin could still team up in combined at next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics. Thursday marks exactly one year before the Feb. 6, 2026 opening ceremony.

Vonn told The Associated Press in a recent interview that the main goal of her return is to race in Cortina at the 2026 Games and that then she will retire again.

Vonn will race in the super-G and downhill at worlds on Thursday and Saturday.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

United States' Lindsey Vonn ahead of an alpine ski, women's World Championship downhill training, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

United States' Lindsey Vonn gets ready to start an alpine ski, women's World Championship downhill training, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during the first run of a women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

United States' Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Championship downhill training, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Lindsey Vonn gets ready to start an alpine ski, women's World Championship downhill training, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin ahead of a women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Angels first baseman Trey Mancini, a cancer survivor and former Baltimore slugger, played in his first major league game since 2023 on Monday night against the Houston Astros.

Mancini delivered a run-scoring single in the second inning in his first at-bat.

The Angels selected the contract of Mancini and put him in the lineup at first base against the Astros after placing infielders Vaughn Grissom (left oblique strain) and Adam Frazier (right elbow inflammation) on the 10-day injured list.

Mancini, 34, agreed to a minor league contract with the Angels in February, a deal that included an invitation to major league spring training. Mancini hit .273 with six homers, 29 RBIs and three steals for Salt Lake this year.

Mancini has batted .263 with 129 homers and 400 RBIs over parts of seven seasons in the majors. He played parts of six seasons with the Orioles and hit a career-high 29 homers in 2019.

Mancini then missed the 2020 season after surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his colon. He made a successful return to the Orioles in 2021, and he won a World Series ring in 2022 after Baltimore traded him to Houston.

He spent part of the 2023 season with the Chicago Cubs. He has since played in the minor league systems of the Reds, Marlins and Diamondbacks.

Mancini opted out of a minor league deal with Arizona last July after batting .308 with 16 homers for Triple-A Reno.

Grissom’s move to the IL was retroactive to Friday. Frazier’s move was retroactive to Saturday.

The Angeles also recalled infielder Denzer Guzman from Triple-A Salt Lake and transferred infielder Yoán Moncada to the 60-day injured list.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Los Angeles Angels' Logan O'Hoppe, left, scores after a single by Vaughn Grissom and a throwing error by Sterlin Thompson as Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman misses the ball during the second inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)