Mikaela Shiffrin to return from injury next week

Skiing great Mikaela Shiffrin said Thursday that she is ready to return to the World Cup circuit after an injury.

Shiffrin, whose 99 World Cup race wins are a record, crashed Nov. 30 in a giant slalom run in Killington, Vt., and wound up with a stab wound in her oblique muscle that required surgery.

"I got impaled back in November, and I had about a seven centimeter deep puncture wound, or stab wound, into my obliques," she said Thursday on "Today."

"So that's been quite a grueling process of rehab and trying to recover. ... I think 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 to train a little bit the past week or so. I'm actually going to be heading over to Europe in the next couple of days to race my first World Cup."

Shiffrin, 29, said she got in a giant slalom starting gate on Monday and was confident she was ready to race again. Her first scheduled competition is Jan. 30 at the Courchevel World Cup in France, even though she said she isn't 100 percent recovered.

"I think we're going to be dealing with sort of the remnants of this injury throughout the rest of the season. But it's not painful," she said. "My muscles are working again. I've been able to get my strength built back up. So I'm in a really good place physically."

Shiffrin has won five overall World Cup season titles, 14 world championship (seven gold) medals and three Olympic (two gold) medals.

Despite high expectations, Shiffin failed to medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The 2026 Games begin next Feb. 6 in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

--Field Level Media