Federica Brignone knocked out three days: ‘But I’m jumping in anyway’

Federica Brignone pawing for giant despite flu: “I’ll even run with 40 if necessary”

Federica Brignone will be on the track in Courchevel-Meribel for the Giant Slalom valid for the Alpine Ski World Championships despite the fact that the flu has affected her in the last few days: “I was back home, before preparing in Les Menuires with Marta Bassino, the French, I was in good shape and here comes the flu hit. I was knocked out for three days, I’m still not 100 percent. Good thing I don’t do an endurance sport, otherwise I couldn’t breathe. But I will throw myself down no matter what. I run even with a fever of 40 this giant,” are his words to La Repubblica.

The skier from Valle d’Aosta has already won a gold medal, in the combined: “As a little girl I was struggling to metabolize, I used to wake up and say, ‘yuck, it’s a dream.’ Now I know exactly where I am and what I’m doing. I built my gold to 90 percent in super-G, and despite a mistake in slalom I was on Shiffrin’s tail before she went out.”

Next goals: “All or nothing, for example a world gold in giant slalom, or a podium in downhill. My career is still great, in every race I want to be my best. Eighth place in SuperG? You don’t realize what it means after the gold medal: commitments, events, interviews. I got back to the hotel at 5:40 p.m. on an empty stomach, and by 6 p.m. I was at the awards ceremony. Good thing Mom had crackers. Then you can’t sleep, your immune barriers go down, and in fact I got sick. Anyway in the super-G I was 55 cents away from winning…”