Six weeks ago, Mikaela Shiffrin didn’t have the core strength to even rise out of a chair. A sneeze or a laugh brought on instant pain. That was all due to a serious crash in a giant slalom race on Nov. 30 in Killington, Vermont, where something punctured her in the side — still a mystery — and caused severe trauma to her oblique muscles.

Three-time Olympic medalist Mikaela Shiffrin will return to alpine skiing competition next week, the American star announced Thursday on the “Today” show. She’ll compete in the World Cup event in Courchevel, France, where a slalom race is scheduled for Jan. 30, two months to the day after she was injured in a bad fall.