Italy’s Brignone wins super-G gold 10 months after leg injury

Federica Brignone Wins Super-G Gold in Remarkable Comeback at Home Olympics

Federica Brignone of Italy captured the first Olympic gold medal of her career on Thursday, winning the women’s super-G at the Milan-Cortina Games just 10 months after a crash left her with multiple leg fractures and a torn ACL.

The 35-year-old navigated foggy conditions on the Olimpia delle Tofane course in 1 minute 23.41 seconds, finishing 0.41 seconds ahead of France’s Romane Miradoli, who claimed silver. Austria’s Cornelia Huetter took bronze, 0.52 seconds behind the winner.

“It’s something extraordinary,” Brignone said after the race, according to Olympics.com. “I only concentrated on skiing. I never imagined I would win.”olympics

A Season That Nearly Ended in April

Brignone’s triumph caps one of alpine skiing’s most dramatic comeback stories. Last April, the reigning World Cup overall champion crashed during the giant slalom at the Italian Championships in Val di Fassa, suffering what the Italian Winter Sports Federation described as “multi-fragmentary compound fractures of the tibial plateau and the head of the fibula” in her left leg. Surgeons also discovered a torn ACL during the operation at La Madonnina clinic in Milan.espn

The injury required two surgeries and months of rehabilitation. Brignone did not return to competitive skiing until January 20, when she finished sixth in a giant slalom at Kronplatz with just 13 days of training behind her. She had only three World Cup races under her belt heading into the Olympics.fis-ski

Gold Delivers Italy’s First Alpine Medal

With her victory, Brignone became the oldest female gold medalist in Olympic alpine skiing history, according to NBC Olympics. The medal is also her fourth at the Winter Games, matching Deborah Compagnoni for the most by an Italian woman. Brignone previously won bronze in giant slalom at PyeongChang 2018, then silver in giant slalom and bronze in the combined at Beijing 2022.wikipedia

The challenging course took its toll on several top contenders. Italy’s Sofia Goggia, who led the World Cup super-G standings this season, failed to finish. American Breezy Johnson, the downhill gold medalist from earlier in these Games, also crashed out, as did Germany’s Emma Aicher and Austria’s Mirjam Puchner.wikipedia

Italy President Sergio Mattarella and IOC President Kirsty Coventry watched near the finish line as Brignone crossed to thunderous applause from the home crowd, according to the Associated Press.ajc