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Federica Brignone still can’t believe it: "I didn’t understand anything anymore"

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Ten months ago, after her serious injury at the Italian Championships in Val di Fassa, it was almost unthinkable that Federica Brignone could even participate in Milan Cortina 2026. Instead, the Five Circles event even brought two golds to the Aosta Valley Tiger. “I’m so speechless, I’m struggling to realize – she told Rai Sport microphones after the giant slalom victory -. Today I was really quiet: before the first run I was almost too calm, I was afraid of not being aggressive enough. Even in the second run there was the same calmness and I almost wondered why, but then I only thought about skiing”.

“I felt like I had a so-so run – he added, talking about the decisive split -, I tried to push as hard as I could and at the finish I didn&#8217t even look at the screen with the times right away. I just heard screaming and from there I didn’t understand anything more. I turned to look at the scoreboard to get confirmation, I didn’t understand how it went. The secret of the race? I tried to live it simply like any other race, thinking about my skiing: it was the best thing, because I really enjoyed it”.

Francesco LuciveroAll the Azzurri medals in Milan Cortina 2026: photos

Francesca Lollobrigida won two golds in speed skating, in the women’s 3,000 and 5,000 meters.
Splendid gold also for the mixed short track relay team (Confortola, Betti, Fontana, Nadalini, Sighel and Spechenhauser).
Marion Oberhofer and Andrea Vötter came out on top in the women’s luge.
Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner, on the other hand, won the men’s event, again in luge.
Federica Brignone gave very strong emotions, winning two golds (Super-G and giant) ten months after the serious accident.
With the'gold won on Sunday, February 15, Lisa Vittozzi gave the first Olympic success to the Italian biathlon.
Double podium position for the Azzurri in the men’s downhill: Giovanni Franzoni silver, Dominik Paris bronze.
Dorothea Wierer, Tommaso Giacomel, Lukas Hofer and Lisa Vittozzi won the'silver in the 4×6 km mixed biathlon.
Arianna Fontana also won an individual silver in short track, in the 500 meters, equaling fencer Mangiarotti’s 13 Olympic medals.
Michela Moioli and Lorenzo Sommariva were awarded the silver medal for second place in the team snowboard cross.
Sofia Goggia won a bronze medal in the women’s downhill, capturing another Five Circles laurel.
Even Lucia Dalmasso celebrated a bronze, in snowboarding, finishing third in the women’s parallel giant.
In a'crazy edition for the Italian luge, Dominik Fischnaller’s bronze in the men’s individual race is also recorded.
Bronze also for the Italian figure skating team (Rizzo, Grassl, Gutmann, Conti, Macii, Guignard and Fabbri).
Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner confirmed on the Olympic curling podium, winning bronze in the mixed doubles.
Yet another Italian luge medal is the bronze in the mixed relay (Hofer, Vötter, Oberhofer, Fischnaller, Rieder and Kainzwaldner).
Michela Moioli also found a medal in the individual: excellent bronze for her, recovering from a bad fall in training.
Davide Graz, Elia Barp, Martino Carollo and flag-bearer Federico Pellegrino cheered for the splendid bronze in the men’s cross-country relay.

Federica Brignone&#8217s joy, however, is concomitant with regret for Lara Della Mea, who until the last had dreamed of making the podium after a splendid comeback in the second run. Della Mea finished in fourth place, just five hundredths behind the two silver medals ex-aequo of Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund. The two, however, hugged each other happily at the finish line, aware that they had both been protagonists of a historic day. “The ’embrace with Lara was natural. My feat took away a dream from her, but this is sport” said the Valle d’Aosta woman.

“Unfortunately, competition has its own rules and it can–t be a party for everyone,– she explained further.

Today is my party, but a thought for Lara is due. They told me afterwards that she was fourth, moreover at five hundredths. In a World Cup race you would say it is still a great result, but at the Olympics coming fourth burns. She was really strong, though, she had a great second run and she just has to be proud”.

Already the winner of a silver medal in Beijing 2022 and two bronze medals, in Pyeongchang 2018 and again in Beijing, Federica Brignone further cemented her status as an Italian sports legend by winning two golds in alpine skiing in the same edition of the Winter Olympics, a feat that had so far only been achieved by Alberto Tomba, in Calgary 1988.

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