Bode Miller underwent back surgery Monday and hopes to return in January.
Miller, 37 and a six-time Olympic medalist, has suffered from back problems since March, forcing him to skip the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, on Oct. 26.
He is slated to return in Wengen, Switzerland, on the weekend of Jan. 17-18.
That’s one week before the famed Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuehel, Austria, a race Miller has never won over a distinguished career.
The World Championships are in Vail/Beaver Creek, Colo., in the first two weeks of February.
This could be Miller’s final season.