Federica Brignone captures Super-G gold at Milano Cortina, 10 months after devastating injury

Federica Brignone delivered the run of her life to win Olympic gold in the women’s Super-G at the Milano Cortina Games, just 315 days after a career-threatening crash. The Italian flagbearer attacked a treacherous set, stopped the clock at 1:23.41, and watched as the rest of the field failed to match her time. France’s Romane Miradoli finished second, 0.41 seconds back, with Austria’s Cornelia Huetter taking bronze at +0.52.

A gold forged through resilience

Brignone’s triumph comes at the end of a grueling recovery that began with a multi-fragment tibial plateau fracture, a fibular head injury, and a torn cruciate ligament sustained on April 3, 2025. Surgeons stabilized her left leg with a plate and multiple screws, and the following months became a test of resolve as she relearned daily movements before rebuilding athletic capacity. For nearly two months she couldn’t load the injured leg; by summer, she had carefully graduated to greater training loads. Those who guided her back hailed not just the timing of the intervention but also the athlete’s willpower—her decisive ingredient in turning a bleak prognosis into a podium return.

By the time she got to the start gate at Cortina, Brignone was composed and clinical. She later admitted she hadn’t imagined winning, labeling herself an outsider and approaching the day with an all-or-nothing mindset. The result: a fluid, fearless run that blended precision in the most technical sections with speed on the long turns that caught out so many rivals.

Podium picture and Italian depth

Brignone, wearing bib 6, laid down a marker that stood through wave after wave of challengers. Miradoli’s silver run came closest, but she still ceded 41 hundredths on the line. Huetter, a perennial big-race threat, secured bronze a further 11 hundredths back. Italy’s depth was on display just off the podium: Laura Pirovano finished fifth, 0.76 seconds behind, and Elena Curtoni placed seventh at +0.77. The host nation sent roars down the finish as its athletes stacked the top 10 around Brignone’s defining performance.

A course that punished hesitation

The set, designed to probe both line choice and nerve, wreaked havoc early. Five of the first nine starters failed to finish, including several pre-race favorites. Among the most dramatic exits was Sofia Goggia, who attacked from bib 9 and posted a blistering second split before going out near the Duca d’Aosta jump. It was a second heartbreak of the week for the Italian star after a fall in the combined downhill; she departed uninjured but visibly shaken. The day also brought a heavy crash for defending Olympic champion Breeze Johnson, who slid into the nets after a sharp edge catch.

“All or nothing”: Brignone’s voice and a nation’s applause

In the finish, Brignone’s first words struck a blend of disbelief and clarity: she had focused only on skiing her best, embracing the risk that the course demanded. “I never expected this,” she said, calling the gold something truly special. Her mother, former racing standout Nina Quario, fought back emotion as she praised her daughter’s perseverance and the team around her through a brutal recovery. On hand in Cortina, Italy’s head of state watched the run and personally congratulated the new Olympic champion, a moment that rippled through a raucous home crowd.

Legacy sealed, hunger intact

The victory completes Brignone’s Olympic set at age 35. She adds gold to her previous medals—giant slalom silver and combined bronze in Beijing, plus a giant slalom bronze from PyeongChang—cementing a career that already includes two world titles (alpine combined in 2023 and giant slalom in 2025), three world championship silvers, two overall World Cup globes, five discipline globes, and 37 World Cup wins. For an athlete who has reinvented herself multiple times across a long career, Cortina may stand as the pinnacle: a home Games, a course that demanded daring, and a comeback that felt, at times, improbable. On this day, nothing about her skiing was uncertain. Brignone was simply unbeatable.