Federica Brignone issues new warning about her comeback

Federica Brignone in a lengthy interview with Corriere della Sera makes it clear that she still has no definite answer about her return to skiing and racing after her very serious injury last April at the Italian championships. Here are the words of the 35-year-old Val d’Aosta outfielder and winner of the last World Cup.

“It was not a summer. No sea, surfing, entertainment: I lived at the Juventus J-Medical with the sole purpose of getting better. I took an apartment in Turin: only since August, after the second operation, I went back and forth to La Salle. I needed to come back, to see the mountains of the Aosta Valley again: it helped to resume a semi-normal life”.

“I aimed to just heal. I would go home and do the exercises I missed, I would ‘stick’ to the ice. There is no such thing as rushing in these cases, but I was trying to put it on. The second surgery was the turning point. But until four months I didn’t even have time to read: from morning to mid-afternoon I was here, then it wasn’t over anyway. I followed sports a lot, though, even attending competitions”.

“Of serious accidents I had some: the tibial plateau I had already broken, although not like this. And three years ago I had a hole in a tendon: I said nothing and minded my own business. This injury is quite different, however it does not change my outlook. When I realized that the second surgery was needed. I was not walking well, I was not climbing stairs, my knee was swollen. I thought to myself, still like this after four months? On the other hand, there was no lack of opposite phases: I often felt strong, responsive, positive. In short, fighter as I am”.

“Advice from Goggia? Sofia has experienced many injuries, but different from this one: for each recovery, then, there is a specific path. My beacon has been Federico Bistrot, the physiotherapist whom I trust completely. Austrian Nina Ortlieb, who has undergone 20 operations, has been nice in giving me practical advice: how to shower, wash hair, handle normal actions that have become complicated”.

“On the one hand I can&#8217t wait to get back on skis, on the other hand I don&#8217t want to put my skis back on and feel uncomfortable: it would be a very bad bump. With what happened, yes, I was afraid I wouldn’t make it. In that case I might consider retirement? The way I am, I don’t know if I would quit. I would probably say, ‘Okay, I’m not going to make it this year, but I’m going to try again.’ If I hadn’t gotten hurt, maybe I would have been more ready to quit. Instead, now I can’t back out. Will the mind decide? First of all … the left leg”.

“Recovery timelines would go beyond the 2026 Games and next season: some people took two years to come back from a similar injury. So I have to cheat time, reasoning day by day. When will I return to skiing and competing? I don’t know yet. The most urgent aspect is to re-educate the physique, for example to running: it’s a lot after what happened. How will I cope with the pain I still feel? By enduring it, by not caring. So I will have to rebuild the muscles, and on this front I work like a beast: my body should not feel sick”.

“I already know that I will not be as prepared as in the past. And I know that the full flexion of my knee I will never get back, I have created a trouble for myself for life. But I do wish to return to skiing and to make the body trust. But patience will be needed: even resuming skiing will be a rehabilitation, I will figure out if I can burn out the stops”.

“There are various ways: use strict rules for training centers; make devices such as air bags mandatory without exceptions; make less performance suits; work on helmets, having said that I see it impossible to adopt full-face ones. This should not make us forget that zero risk does not exist, that skiing is dangerous – Schumacher got hurt at 30 mph … -, that speed, an ingredient of the show, is what makes us heroes”.

“Will I be at the Games? I still don’t have an answer, I’m working my ass off to participate. Do they want me to be there? I understand and I thank them. However, to those who are making it easy, I would like to ask them to trade my injured leg for their healthy one–to be a flag bearer anyway? The prospect of being Italy’s standard-bearer motivates me even more. If you are younger, you heal better. I might not have had the will I’m using today, though. I have already fulfilled the dreams I had as a child, this is one more thing. But I have to try”.