Just seven weeks ago, Mikaela Shiffrin couldn’t even get out of a chair without feeling intense pain. Sneezing or laughing would trigger it. This came after a crash at Killington on Nov. 30, where an unknown injury punctured her side, causing severe damage to her oblique muscles. The road to recovery has been tough for Shiffrin, but knowing her, she’s been pushing through every challenge. After undergoing surgery and hours of intense rehab to get her core muscles firing again, she’s now gearing up to make her comeback at a slalom race in Courchevel, France, next Thursday.

Shiffrin recovery journey hasn’t just been physical, it’s been mental, too. Shiffrin isn’t just focused on getting back to her 100th World Cup win; she’s putting all her energy into making sure she’s fully healed and able to compete at her best again. That’s why her focus is all about progress, not the win count.

To celebrate her return, the US Ski Team posted a series of pictures of her with a heartfelt tribute on Instagram, saying, “Courchevel-Meribél is more than just a stop on the World Cup tour for @mikaelashiffrin. Its here where she’s won seven events across four different disciplines. Its here that she won three World Championships medals. It’s here where her teammates won the first ever World Champs parallel team gold medal. Its here she had her first victory after losing her father in 2020. “

They further announced that Mikaela Shiffrin will be gearing up to come back from a serious abdominal injury that happened at the Stifel Killington Cup two months ago indicating this event isn’t an average ski competition. The Courchevel night slalom will stream on skiandsnowboard.live at 11 AM ET on January 30.

Shiffrin spent six weeks on the sidelines following a severe knee injury in Italy which resulted in sprained ligaments. After recovering from her initial setback she showed remarkable strength and continued to demonstrate her status as prime contender. The World Cup circuit has seen Mikaela Shiffrin achieve absolute dominance over 15 years as she claims five overall titles accompanied by 11 discipline trophies and eight slalom wins.

In addition to her World Cup victories, Mikaela Shiffrin received seven gold medals at the Alpine Ski World Championships while competing in three Olympic Games. Her Beijing 2022 Olympic experience ended poorly but drove her to work harder toward stronger returns.

But at the same time, it seems another legend is excited for her return as she wants to team up with Mikaela.

Will Mikaela Shiffrin and Vonn team up?

If Mikaela Shiffrin makes a successful return, she could be lining up for some big events ahead, like the downhill on February 15 and the alpine combined on February 17. There’s also the team event on February 19 that she might take part in. But while Shiffrin’s gearing up to race again, alpine skiing legend Lindsey Vonn, who made an impressive comeback last year at 40, has shared her excitement about teaming up with Shiffrin for the new combined event at the World Championships in Saalbach, Austria (February 4-16).

Vonn told the press, “I would love to race with Mikaela, that would be amazing, and I think it would probably be one of the coolest things ever to have both of us competing together on the same team.” The new combined event is going to be pretty exciting—it’s a team effort, with one skier tackling the downhill and the other doing slalom, and the fastest combined time wins. It’s also making its Olympic debut at Milano Cortina 2026.

Mikaela Shiffrin holds the record for slalom wins (62), while Vonn dominates downhill with 43 victories. Vonn’s already said she’s thrilled about the possibility of teaming up, and while Shiffrin hasn’t announced her full plans yet, she’s expected to race in the slalom and giant slalom events at the World Championships.