A dream season ended painfully for the great Italian skier - Federica Brinjone suffered a serious fall and multiple fractures in her left leg in the last race of the 2024/2025 season.
In the second race of the giant slalom, Brignone Val di Fasi defended the best time of the first series of the competition for the Italian champion, but she got caught on a gate and fell on the course from which she was taken to the hospital by helicopter.
The current World Cup champion, in addition to the Large Crystal Globe, won the Small Crystal Globes this season for victories in the downhill and giant slalom standings.
It is a heavy blow for Italian skiing, which had pinned its hopes on the 34-year-old trophy skier at the home Winter Olympics in Milan in early 2026.
The current world giant slalom champion recorded the best time in her first run at the Italian Championships, but in the second run she straddled a gate at high speed, dug herself into the snow, and had to be lifted off the slope by a helicopter.
According to the Italian Ski Federation (FISI), Brignione underwent a scan at the Santa Chiara Hospital in Trento, which revealed a "displaced multi-fragmentary fracture of the tibial plateau and fibular head in the left leg."
"The FISI medical council is closely monitoring the champion's condition and has arranged for her transfer to the 'La Madonina' clinic in Milan, where detailed radiological examinations will be performed and a surgical plan will be determined," the FISI statement said.
Brignione is a three-time Olympic medalist - silver and two bronze, a two-time world champion and four-time Italian champion in giant slalom, with a total of 10 victories at national championships in various disciplines.
The competition in Val di Fasi represented Brignone's last appearance in a triumphant season, after she returned from the World Cup finals in San Velio, USA, with the Crystal Globe in the overall standings, downhill and giant slalom.
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