Mikaela Shiffrin announces return to World Cup ski racing following injury

Gabriele Facciotti/AP Photo
The Vail Valley’s favorite hometown hero is back on the World Cup circuit.
Mikaela Shiffrin announced her return to competitive skiing Thursday on her social media page and during a morning segment on “Today.” The 99-time World Cup winner will compete in the night slalom in Courchevel, France, on Jan. 30. Shiffrin told “Today” she decided to return on Monday after running giant slalom gates for the first time since the injury.
“It felt pretty good. I think the next step is racing,” Shiffrin said before adding that she doesn’t feel “100%” yet.
“I think we’re going to be dealing with the remnants of this injury throughout the rest of the season, but it’s not painful,” the Edwards skier 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. The load of skiing is so high you kind of have to sort of work your way into it.”
In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Shiffrin said her comeback race next Thursday in Courchevel, where she’s claimed eight World Cup wins, is “going to be a little bit nerve-wracking.”

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“These past six weeks, every step it’s like, ‘Geez, should this be hurting less? Should I be better at this? Should I be more tolerant of the pain?’ There are so many questions that come up in your mind of basically whether or not you’re doing well enough,” she told Pat Graham. “But when we take a step back and look where we are now … it’s pretty exciting.”
The Edwards skier has been inactive in 2025 due to an injury she suffered on Nov. 30, 2024 during her second giant slalom run in Killington, Vt. The 29-year-old had a 0.32 first-run lead and was on her way to her 100th World Cup win when she slipped onto her inside hip and crashed into a gate. She suffered what she described as “a seven-centimeter-deep puncture wound, or stab wound in my obliques,” she told “Today.” The puncture required surgery in mid-December after the racer reported chills, fever and “weird symptoms,” she shared on her Instagram page at that time.
One day after her surgery, Shiffrin appeared at the Birds of Prey World Cup races in Beaver Creek to present an award to Bode Miller, offering relief to fans who were concerned about her status. Nearly a month later, the skier posted a video to Instagram in early January — in what appears to be Beaver Creek — carving her first turns on snow since the incident.
Harrod said Shiffrin’s physiotherapist Regan Dewhirst has been instrumental in the star’s remarkable progress over the last seven weeks.
“The biggest thing was to make sure you get her moving in a pain-free way as quickly as possible,” Dewhirst told AP. “Get the muscle activated properly and then once it’s activating, you need to try to introduce these sport-specific motions as soon as you can.”
Harrod said Shiffrin’s “focus is really on the comeback” not 100 wins. During her time away, Harrod said Shiffrin has also gotten excited about the “success of the broader team, from Lauren Macuga to — most recently — Paula Moltzan.”
“She’s eager to get this first race back in her rearview window,” Harrod stated.
Shiffrin plans to focus on the slalom and giant slalom for the World Championships, which are Feb. 4-16 in Saalbach, Austria.
“She’s open to super-G for the remainder of the season,” Harrod stated. “But that will really depend on how much training volume she’s able to get under her belt between now and post-World Champs.”