American skier Paula Moltzan will miss the slalom race at the world championships Saturday after breaking her left hand again.

Moltzan was injured while helping the U.S. win the gold medal in the team event Tuesday, having already competed for most of last season with the same hand broken

Moltzan broke her left hand while skiing her gold medal-winning run during the mixed team parallel.

She then opted to have a brace made and ski the giant slalom and attempt to ski Saturday’s slalom. However, after training, she realized it wouldn’t be enough. She is returning to the US to have surgery.

Moltzan is a veteran, but this season has shown that she is emerging as one of the fastest slalom skiers in the world and approaching the same level in giant slalom.

Moltzan earned her first career podium in slalom in December when she finished second behind Mikaela Shiffrin in Semmering, Austria -- marking the first 1-2 finish in women's slalom for the U.S. in more than half a century.

Moltzan’s absence from the final event is certainly a blow to the podium opportunities of the US team but she fought like a tiger to ski and it didn’t work out.

Moltzan earned her first career World Cup podium this season in Semmering, Austria. She is having the best year of her career and was undoubtedly a podium threat in tomorrow’s race. However, Moltzan will be returning to the US as a World Champion.