World Cup ski champion Federica Brignone's return uncertain 10 months from Olympics

The Associated Press

· Posted: Apr 08, 2025 11:07 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

Overall World Cup skiing champion Federica Brignone was discharged from the infirmary connected Tuesday, 5 days aft breaking aggregate bones successful her near limb successful a elephantine slalom clang and undergoing surgery.

"I inactive don't cognize however agelong it volition instrumentality [to return]," Brignone told reporters arsenic she sat successful a wheelchair earlier leaving the La Madonnina session successful Milan. "We'll spell measurement by step. The adjacent measurement is post-operation therapy and we'll commencement Monday. And past we'll spot however the bony reacts and we'll instrumentality it from there."

Brignone besides tore the anterior cruciate ligament, raising questions astir her chances of competing astatine the location Olympics successful 10 months. She was expected to beryllium 1 of Italy's stars successful the Milan-Cortina Games.

"I'm not idiosyncratic who gives up," Brignone said. "I deliberation everything successful beingness happens for a reason."

After her clang astatine the Italian championships astatine the Lusia skis country successful Val di Fassa, Brignone was flown by chopper to a infirmary successful Trento past transferred to Milan, wherever she was operated connected on the aforesaid day.

"I realized lone aft the cognition however overmuch I risked," Brignone said. "Everything they did to trim the waiting clip and debar complications was decisive."

Italian Winter Sports Federation aesculapian main Andrea Panzeri besides said it was excessively aboriginal to accidental erstwhile Brignone mightiness contention again.

"That volition instrumentality astatine slightest 45 days," Panzeri said of erstwhile they could make a timeline.

Brignone won 10 World Cup races crossed 3 antithetic disciplines (five elephantine slaloms, 3 super-Gs and 2 downhills) this season. She besides won the elephantine slalom astatine the satellite championships and took metallic successful super-G successful February. At 34, she became the oldest pistillate to triumph a World Cup race.

"It was the top clip of my life," Brignone said. "But unluckily if you skis for a profession, [injury] tin happen."

WATCH | Brignone adds GS play rubric to wide and downhill crowns: