Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) (AFP) – Federica Brignone completed a Winter Olympic fairy tale on Sunday after claiming her second gold of the Milan-Cortina Games, as out-of-sorts Mikaela Shiffrin again missed out on the medals. Italian veteran Brignone started her home Olympics by being one of her country’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony, and she made history on the piste by becoming the first Italian woman skier to win gold in two events at the same Games after triumphing in the giant slalom.
The 35-year-old was already the new Olympic super-G champion, and her achievements in Cortina d’Ampezzo are all the more remarkable for her having barely recovered from a broken leg suffered 10 months ago. “I would exchange my medals to come back and not have this injury, of this I am sure,” said Brignone, such was the pain endured since from her horror crash in April last year.
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Nonetheless, Brignone joins men’s skiing icon Alberto Tomba in being the only Italians to take double gold in the same Games, Tomba winning the slalom and giant slalom in Calgary in 1988. “It was such a surprise, a great surprise even to be here that all I did was try to stay relaxed, enjoy every moment,” Brignone told reporters. “I never felt any pressure. If I had had to come to the Olympics last year, with the idea of having to perform I would have found it a lot harder. That was the key, my secret, and I’m surprised about how well I’ve managed the mental side of things, because that is not easy.”
– ‘In her own league’ – Brignone delivered two super smooth runs on Sunday to finish 0.62sec ahead of joint silver medallists Sara Hector of Sweden and Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund, and become Olympic and world champion in her favoured discipline. Hector and Stjernesund, who posted the same times in both runs, paid tribute to Brignone by bowing down to her at the finish as fans in the stands cheered in delight. “I said to Sara, we should bow for ‘Fede’,” said Stjernesund. “Not just for the gold here, but for the super-G and for her being back…She was in her own league today, so it was not about hundredths (of seconds) and then you have to just bow.”
Brignone’s triumph extended by three days her own record as the oldest gold medallist, man or woman, in the history of her sport, performing incredibly again in brilliant sunshine despite near-constant pain from her career-threatening injury. She did it on a course which for the second run was set by Shiffrin’s coach Karin Harjo, who pitched a slower, turn-heavy course in the hope of favouring her star charge.
But Shiffrin, who has an all-time women’s record of 22 giant slalom wins on the World Cup circuit, was again below par, seventh in the first run and 13th in the second to place 11th overall.
– ‘Very cool’ Brignone – The 30-year-old hailed Brignone’s achievements, the American magnanimous and philosophical after another disappointing day following her underwhelming display in the team combined which cost her and Breezy Johnson a podium finish. “It is very, very cool to see that,” said Shiffrin of Brignone. “Her injury was so bad. The amount of rehab that she has been going through and pushing. The mentality that she has to trust sending it down the hill.
“I wish I could explain how impressive that is. The greatest giant slalom skier of this time is the Olympic gold medallist.” Shiffrin now only has Wednesday’s slalom — her specialist discipline — in which she can bid to end her eight-year Olympic medal drought. She left the 2022 Beijing Games without a single medal from six races, failing to even finish in three, but in the intervening years has established herself as the greatest of all time with a record 108 wins on the World Cup circuit. Her last Olympic medal came with victory in the giant slalom during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
© 2024 AFP
