Mikaela Shiffrin confirms FIS World Cup return

Olympic and world slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin will make her long-awaited return from a knee injury at Crans Montana next week.

Shiffrin, the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup champion in the slalom discipline for the past three seasons, has missed a significant chunk of the 2015-16 campaign after sustaining a medial collateral ligament tear and bone bruising in a training crash last December.

However, the 20-year-old American has confirmed she is to compete in a rescheduled World Cup slalom next Monday.

Shiffrin posted on Facebook: "A lot of people have been asking when I'm going to race again. I said that I hope to race at the end of February or early March, but you may have heard that the cancelled slalom from Maribor has been rescheduled for Crans Montana on February 15 - And I'm going to be there! Sooo.. See ya in a week!"

In Shiffrin's absence, Frida Hansdotter of Sweden has opened up an 85-point lead at the top of the World Cup slalom standings.

Hansdotter is 305 points clear of Shiffrin, who secured double slalom success in Aspen prior to her injury setback.