Alpine skiing-Brignone started as an underdog but the tiger took over

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 12 - Federica Brignone said she was an underdog but the tiger took over as the Italian roared to an astonishing super-G gold medal on home snow at the Milano Cortina Olympics on Thursday.

In April last year, only weeks after winning giant slalom gold at the world championships, the two times overall World Cup champion and multiple medal winner did not know if she still had an Alpine skiing career to look forward to.

With multiple leg fractures and a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) from a giant slalom crash at the Italian Championships, Brignone had to focus on walking again before she could get back on skis.

"The gold medal? Never. Until now," she said on Thursday of her Olympic hopes.

"Until I was standing on the podium. It was so hard."

SLOW AND PAINFUL PROCESS

The comeback has been a slow and painful process every step of the way, one somewhat overshadowed in recent weeks by the drama of U.S. speed queen Lindsey Vonn attempting to race with a ruptured ACL. The Italian returned to the slopes seven months after the accident and made her return to the World Cup only in January.

"I got injured at the best moment of my career, of my life," she said last June. "I do not want to retire from skiing now, like that."

Simply competing at a home Games after such a journey might have been enough for some and while Brignone dared to dream, she was not expecting miracles.

Then the tiger painted on her helmet, a nod to her nickname and reputation as a skier equipped with fearsome determination and tremendous inner strength, began to stir.

"I don't think I've ever been this good in the last 10 months," she told reporters on Thursday after going top from bib number six and then watching a string of rivals fail to finish or fall short.

"It's just crazy. I mean, I was getting my confidence every day more and more, for sure. But it was, yeah, unbelievable.

"I could never expect to be here and win the gold medal."

The roar came from the packed grandstand as she blasted across the finish line with a time of one minute 23.41 seconds.

Nobody else came close.

As the victory was confirmed a flight of Italy's Frecce Tricolori jets trailed the colours of the Italian flag across the sky and she stepped up on to the podium.

"I never doubted I could do the race," she said. "I know how to grit my teeth, even with the pain. It's 10 months that I have pain every day. The other day I put on my shoes and I couldn't ski. Fortunately it was the other day, not today.

"This injury is so hard that I never thought actually to be here. I was an underdog," she added. "I needed to try something special.

"I think after (skier) number 15 I started dreaming."

Brignone said accepting her injury as part of her sport had been key to the recovery, along with focusing on what she could control. Her doctor hailed her willpower and competitive spirit.

What the future might hold remained an open question.

"I'm here right now and I'm thinking about this (the gold)," she said. "If it (the leg) keeps hurting a lot, like lately, I don't know if I can continue. But for sure I want to try." REUTERS