Federica Brignone, an Italian Olympic medal candidate who just won the overall World Cup skiing title, crashed in the giant slalom at the Italian Championships on Thursday, rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament and suffering multiple leg fractures.
The 34-year-old’s successful season came to a cruel end on the slopes of Val di Fassa when her legs got caught at a gate, sending her plummeting out of control. She is one of Italy’s top medal chances in the blue-ribbon sport of Alpine skiing for the upcoming home Olympics.
After being taken to a Trento hospital, Brignone’s serious injuries were discovered.
Her “multi-fragmentary compound fracture of the tibial plateau and the head of the fibula in her left leg” was reported by the Italian Winter Sports Federation, and she would be sent to Milan for more testing and a surgical consultation.
Brignone’s ACL was also ruptured during the procedure, which the federation reported was successful. This will be assessed in the upcoming weeks, and she will start her recovery process in the coming days.
Prior to Brignone’s surgery, Andrea Panzeri, the president of the Italian winter sports federation’s medical staff, informed media in Milan that she would be out for months.
Her plans for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics, where she was supposed to spearhead Italy’s gold rush in one of the Games’ main events, are clouded by the accident.
After Brignone had already concluded her World Cup campaign in spectacular manner, the crash occurred during a national competition.
The seasoned skier added the giant slalom and downhill globes to her remarkable collection of trophies after winning the overall World Cup title to top off her international season.
The timing of Brignone’s injury is especially bittersweet given her victory in the giant slalom at the World Championships in February, which raised hopes for her Olympic chances on home snow the following year.
