Federica Brignone and Sofia Goggia, opposite fates: the Bergamasque does not hide her disappointment

On a day in which Italian and international skiing bows to the courage of Federica Brignone, able 292 days after her very serious leg injury to return to the World Cup by touching the Top 15 in the Plan de Corones giant slalom, there is also the other side of the coin, represented by yet another disappointment, in this beginning of 2026, for Sofia Goggia, forced to retire a few seconds after starting from the gate in the first run. A result that fuels questions on the eve of the Olympic event.

“I went long because of a small bump and found myself out of line – explained Goggia to Fisi channels, at the end of another day to forget of this beginning of the calendar year -, I tried to jump in but I slipped. Clearly the moment is not the brightest, but physically and technically I am there. There’s a need for a ‘click’ I have to do it”. Goggia has yet to finish a race among the top five since the Super-G she won in Val d’Isere on Dec. 21 and in the giant slalom she didn&#8217t finish higher than eighth in Mont Tremblant two weeks earlier.

The below-expectations results are also impacting at the overall ranking level, where Goggia is eighth with 506 points, -467 from leader Mikaela Shiffrin. In the giant slalom ranking, the Bergamasque is 15th with 126 points, far from Julia Scheib’s 560, while in the downhill ranking she is fifth at 180, co-hosted with Nicol Delago, at -220 from Lindsey Vonn. In Super-G the matter is different: the 200 points accumulated so far are worth the top of the ranking, but the sixth place in Tarvisio in the super-G race a few days ago raised some doubts about the condition of the Italian champion.

The World Cup calendar now includes two more weekends of competition: the first, Saturday, Jan. 24 and Sunday, Jan. 25, will see the stars of the technical disciplines on the track in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, first with the giant slalom and then the slalom. Then it will be the turn, on Friday, Jan. 30 and Saturday, Jan. 31, of first the downhill and then the Super-G in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

After that, the Alpine Ski World Cup will take a break to allow the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic races to take place. As for the women&#8217s races, on Feb. 8 there will be the downhill, on the 10th the combined, on the 12th the Super-G, on the 15th the giant slalom and on the 18th the special slalom.