Federica Brignone’s incredible comeback is complete after the Italian won the first Olympic gold medal of her illustrious career, less than a year on from a serious leg break which required two surgeries.
The 35-year-old, competing in her third Olympics, won the women’s super-G on home snow in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Tuesday.
Poor visibility on the Olimpia delle Tofane wrought havoc with several of the main contenders’ chances, with Germany’s Emma Aicher, already a double silver medallist at this Games, 2018 Olympic champion Ester Ledecka and home hopeful and super-G World Cup leader Sofia Goggia among those to crash out.
Brignone was the sixth skier to start and flung herself down the course, with her technical skills coming to the fore on a daredevil run.
“I told myself that it was a ‘make it or break it’, but I never thought I would win,” she said. “Something special, I would never have imagined it in life.
“I was expecting my skiing to be really confident and try to make every turn clean and be, not perfect, but to let my skis go and be smooth through the terrain.”
Brignone’s time would not be beaten as several of her main rivals, including Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson, also did not finish.
The American walked away after clipping a gate and crashing into the side netting, in scenes reminiscent of teammate Lindsey Vonn’s crash in the downhill on Sunday, although she miraculously appeared unhurt.
17 of the 43 starters failed to finish.
Romane Miradoli of France took silver, 0.41 seconds behind Brignone, with Austria’s Cornelia Huetter third, 0.52 seconds back.
Brignone suffered multiple leg fractures and a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a crash at the Italian national championships last April, requiring two surgeries and months of rehab.
She only made her return to the World Cup circuit at the end of January and was still in so much pain in her left leg at the Olympic Opening Ceremony, where she was a flagbearer, that she asked curler Amos Mosaner to carry her on his shoulders so that she could wave the flag.
Asked if she believed she could win gold despite having barely just made her return to action, she said: “No, never. That's maybe why I did it, because today I was an underdog. I was an outsider, but I know what I can do with my skis.”
Her gold is the first for Italy in Alpine skiing at this Games, and completes the set of Olympic medals after she won silver in Beijing and bronze in Pyeongchang, both in giant slalom, and an additional Alpine combined bronze in 2022.
It also makes Brignone the second-most successful Italian women’s skier at the Olympics, with her four medals equalling Deborah Compagnoni.
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