Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) (AFP) – Federica Brignone crowned a sensational comeback from a broken leg to win the women’s super-G at the Winter Olympics on Thursday, battling through the pain to bring gold medal joy to the host nation. Nicknamed ‘The Tiger’, the Italian roared down the slope in Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1min 23.41sec to win her first Olympic gold less than a year after she suffered a double leg fracture in April 2025.
Brignone, at 35, became the oldest ever Olympic gold medal winner in alpine skiing, surpassing Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal by a few months. The Italian also surpassed Lindsey Vonn, who is coached by Svindal, as the oldest female medallist. It was Italy’s fifth gold of the Milan-Cortina Games and came in front of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, finishing 0.41sec ahead of France’s Romane Miradoli, with Cornelia Huetter rounding out the podium.
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Brignone basked in the applause and chants of “Fede” from the stands as the Italian Air Force’s aerobatic unit Frecce Tricolori soared high overhead. “I don’t think I’ve felt as good as this at any point in the last 10 months,” a jubilant but exhausted Brignone told reporters. “I’ve had a lot of difficult days in that time…and I’ve always believed that I could compete and I know how to grit my teeth with the pain. The other day I put my ski boots on and I couldn’t ski. Luckily that was the other day and not today.”
Brignone’s participation in the Olympics was in doubt as recently as three weeks ago due to the double fracture of the tibia in her left leg from a crash in a race in April 2025. She had only raced four times before Thursday’s super-G, finishing 10th in the downhill, which kicked off the women’s alpine skiing events in Cortina. Her last win was on home snow in the World Cup super-G at La Thuile in March last year. She is also the giant slalom world champion and has a shot for double Olympic gold with her favoured discipline being held on Sunday.
Asked whether she thought gold had been realistic after her struggles with injury, Brignone 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.”
Brignone was helped by some of her key rivals not being able to handle a tricky course that favoured her as a giant slalom specialist. Additionally, starting in sixth gave her the advantage on a course where the snow quickly degraded. Alice Robinson, who finished second behind Brignone in the giant slalom at last year’s world championships, was over a second off the pace in eighth as the big hitters dropped like flies.
“It’s like a fairy tale for Fede. She’s amazing. I remember watching her run here last year in the super-G…and thinking, ‘oh, if she pulls that off next year, it’s going to be good’,” said Robinson. “To come through what she’s done and then to pull this off today is pretty incredible. So I’m really happy for her.”
New Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson didn’t even finish the top section before crashing out, her failure pushing the USA coaches watching from the finish area to tears. The Americans have had an emotional time in Cortina, with Johnson’s downhill triumph flanked by Vonn breaking her leg and Mikaela Shiffrin flopping in her debut in the team combined. Rising star Emma Aicher of Germany was also caught out, as was Brignone’s compatriot and speed specialist Sofia Goggia. Goggia’s wild skiing style caught up with her as she whacked into the snow just after she established a 0.64sec advantage at the first time split.
In total, there were four medallists from these Games among those who did not finish, as well as 2018 Olympic super-G champion Ester Ledecka and two-time world downhill champion Ilka Stuhec.
© 2024 AFP
