Italy’s fearless skier Federica Brignone takes super-G gold in comeback win at Winter Olympics
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Italy's Federica Brignone, whose nickname is 'Tiger', letting out a roar after her run during women's super-G on Feb 12.
PHOTO: REUTERS
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO – Italian veteran Federica Brignone sealed an astonishing comeback from a career-threatening injury to win the women’s Alpine skiing super-G gold on home snow in a feel-good story at the Milano-Cortina Olympics on Feb 12.
Known as the “Tiger” for her ferocious determination, the 35-year-old had faced a race against time for her home Games after a double leg fracture and a torn anterior cruciate ligament last April, but fought back to fitness to win her first Olympic gold in 1min 23.41sec.
France’s Romane Miradoli took silver, 0.41sec slower, with Austria’s Cornelia Huetter third in 1:23.93.
Sixth out of the start hut, Brignone threw caution to the wind on a foggy Olimpia delle Tofane piste that perfectly suited her technical skills.
It proved too tough, however, for some of her rivals, including American downhill champion Breezy Johnson, who walked away from a high-speed crash into the netting.
Johnson had a pleasant surprise waiting for her as boyfriend Connor Watkins got down on one knee in the finish area, surrounded by many of her teammates and rivals, and proposed to the 30-year-old, who gladly accepted the ring.
Brignone, meanwhile, was accompanied by huge roars from the packed grandstand as she blasted across the finish line before taking her place in the leaders’ seat and waiting.
Ten of the first 24 starters failed to finish, including Brignone’s teammate Sofia Goggia, although for a while it looked as though Huetter and then Miradoli might rip up the script.
Brignone puffed out her cheeks as they narrowly failed to beat her time and after that no one came close.
“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 said.
“I tried to always be in front of the slope and to attack. I didn’t expect anything else.”
Her gold medal was the first by an Italian Alpine skier at the Milano-Cortina Games and completes her set after a silver at Beijing 2022 and bronze at Pyeongchang 2018 – both in giant slalom.
She returned to the World Cup only weeks ago and made the start list for the downhill, finishing 10th.
Asked if she thought she could take gold so soon after returning to competitive 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.
“It's crazy. I don’t think I've realised it.”
Brignone, who is also giant slalom world champion, has a shot for double Olympic gold with her favoured discipline being held on Feb 15.
There was also a first gold medal for Australia at these Games as Cooper Woods won the moguls competition by edging out Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury on a tiebreak.
The moguls event is a judged discipline within freestyle skiing that involves descending a steep, heavily bumped course while performing aerial manoeuvres.
Woods, 25, won with a turns score of 48.4 to Kingsbury’s 47.7, after both scored a total of 83.71.
Meanwhile, Britain’s world No. 1 skeleton racer Matt Weston retained his focus amid extraordinary scenes before the start of the Olympic men’s singles on Feb 12, opening the day with a track record and closing it with another to lead with 1min 52.90sec, 0.30sec ahead of Germany’s Axel Jungk.
Half an hour before the race was due to start, Ukrainian Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified because he refused to not use his helmet
But Weston said he was unaware of the situation until after his first run. The medals will be decided by two more runs on Feb 13.
On Feb 11, France’s Guillaume Cizeron became the first ice dancer to win back-to-back Olympic titles with two different partners as he won gold in Milan with Laurence Fournier Beaudry, less than a year after the pair had teamed up.
At Beijing 2022, he had won gold with Gabriella Papadakis.
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry scored 225.82 points, ahead of Americans Evan Bates and Madison Chock (224.39).
Canada’s Paul Poirier and Piper Gilles won bronze with 217.74 points after it had looked as if their career could be over following Gilles’ ovarian cancer diagnosis. REUTERS, AFP
