From injury to new gold dream: Italy's Dalmasso relishes second chance

ROME, Jan 28 - An injury that shattered Lucia Dalmasso's initial skiing dreams proved the unlikely turning point in a late‑blooming snowboard career that now places her among Italy's top medal contenders at next month's Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Dalmasso, 28, was a promising Alpine skier when a crash in 2013 ended everything she thought her future would be.

"I don’t remember how it happened but I fell and broke both knees," she told Reuters.

Surgery followed and Dalmasso returned to snow almost a year later, only to tear a meniscus soon after. "That hit me hard," she said.

The setback closed one door but eventually another opened. "I see snowboarding as a second opportunity," Dalmasso added.

'DON'T TELL DAD'

From the small Alpine town of Falcade - in one of the most beautiful valleys of the Dolomites - Dalmasso describes herself as sunny, determined and friendly, traits that come through as she recounts her decisive change of course.

After her injuries, Dalmasso secretly approached a coach, and "without telling dad" - a ski instructor and her coach until that day - she climbed on to a board in December 2015.

"I started from zero, I had been on the board three times at most," she said.

Her role model is Czech snowboarder and Alpine skier Ester Ledecka, who made history at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 when she became the first woman to win gold in two different sports at the same Winter Olympics.

"Ester is an idol, I never saw her as an obstacle but rather like a goal," Dalmasso said, making no attempt to conceal her admiration for a rival competitor.

The Italian made her World Cup debut in December 2018, building a style defined by control, precision and fast edge changes with clean, risk-averse lines. 

She finished 29th in the parallel giant slalom (PGS) at the Beijing 2022 Olympics but then rose rapidly through the PGS and slalom (PSL) ranks, earning her first World Cup podium in 2023 and her first victory a year later in Scuol, Switzerland — "the most important moment of my career," she said.

Dalmasso's momentum has surged before her home Games. She opened the 2025–26 season with a PGS victory in China before adding individual and mixed-team wins in January with teammates Daniele Bagozza and Aaron March.

A STORY OF SNOW, WINTER AND SPORT

Dalmasso learned to move on snow almost as soon as she could walk. "I first skied when my mom was pregnant with me," she jokes. 

The Italian still lives and trains year-round in her hometown and says the mountains remain her anchor, a place where she can train "in tranquillity and silence".

Dalmasso's bond with the mountains runs deep.

Passion for snow comes from her family, particularly from her grandfather Nonno Giovanni, 86, who founded Falcade’s first ski school and still skis.

"Our family story is a story of snow, winter and sport," she said.

Away from competition, Dalmasso reads novels and biographies and relaxes by doing crochet, a hobby taught by her mother. 

"It clears my mind," the Italian said, adding that she gives away the hats she makes and is now working on "a secret project" which involves yellow and purple yarn.

The rider says mental balance has become as important as technical preparation after going through burnout in early 2025, when she struggled to cope with competitions and even with being around people. 

Dalmasso now works with two mental coaches and describes a solo trip over Christmas and the New Year to Fuerteventura — her first time surfing — as a turning point.

Travelling alone, meeting new people and trying a new sport, she says, helped her return "calm, free and recharged".

Ahead of her second Olympics, Dalmasso says her childhood dream of gold has become a genuine target. 

"Before it was a dream. Now it's an objective." REUTERS