Two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin will return to the Alpine Ski World Cup on Jan. 30, Shiffrin announced Thursday.
The decorated skier, whose 99 World Cup victories are the most of any individual in the sport, has been sidelined since Nov. 30 after sustaining a puncture wound to her right abdomen.
“It’s been a little bit uncertain whether I could even return this season, but I’ve been able to get on snow, I’ve been able train a little bit the past week or so, and I’m actually going to be heading over to Europe in the next couple of days,” she said on the "TODAY" show on Thursday.
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Shiffrin, 29, was in search of her 100th World Cup win in Vermont when she crashed, tumbling through two gates before colliding with a fence and puncturing an oblique muscle in the process.
“I have a stab wound, basically,” Shiffrin told NBC Olympics in December as she recalled her injury.
“It’s an injury I don’t think many people have ever dealt with,” U.S. Ski team coach Paul Kristofic told The Associated Press earlier in January. “So it’s been complicated, in a way, to ensure she’s actually physically ready during the healing process and improving that way because of the nature of the injury.”
This is the second straight World Cup season in which Shiffrin has had to miss significant time.
Last season, she missed six weeks while recovering from a crash that caused her to sprain multiple ligaments in her left knee. Shiffrin was injured in Italy last January, on a course that will be used in the upcoming Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina.
Shiffrin has competed in the World Cup circuit since 2011, and in 15 seasons she has earned five overall titles and 11 discipline titles. Shiffrin’s most successful discipline is slalom, in which she has eight titles.
Shiffrin also seven gold medals in the Alpine Ski World Championships, and has participated in three Olympic Games. Her most recent Olympics appearance was at the Beijing Games in 2022, during which she did not medal.
