Alpine skiing-Italy's Brignone working hard to recover for Winter Olympics
FILE PHOTO: Alpine Skiing - FIS Alpine Ski World Cup - Women's Giant Slalom - Are, Sweden - March 8, 2025 Italy's Federica Brignone reacts during the second run of the women's giant slalom Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via REUTERS
(Corrects Super-G to giant slalom in paragraph 7)
MILAN :Italian skier Federica Brignone said on Saturday she was working hard to recover from injury and remains hopeful of competing at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
"It would be my dream to be there," she was quoted as saying by news agency Adnkronos.
"I don't know, I am trying, I am working hard to make it," added the 35-year-old, who won the overall World Cup in 2020 and 2025, when asked about her chances of returning in time for the Games.
Brignone, who is currently in Soelden, Austria, to watch the first races of the World Cup season, said her rehabilitation was going well, but she would miss most, if not all, of the season.
The Italian skier, who has never won an Olympic gold, sustained a double leg fracture at the Italian championships in April, dealing a blow to her country's Olympic medal hopes.
Italy faced another setback this week as former world champion Marta Bassino suffered a leg fracture during training.
Meanwhile, Brignone's long-time rival Sofia Goggia was forced to abandon the first women's giant slalom of the World Cup on Saturday, after hitting a gate with her right arm and falling, without hurting herself.
The Winter Games run from February 6-22.
