Second Gold Medal for Federica Brignone at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games

Federica Brignone, who was crowned the Queen of the Games, delighted Italian fans with her outstanding victory in the Giant Slalom at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics. This win marked her second alpine gold medal and Italy's second gold medal at these Games. After posting the fastest time in the first run, the 14th fastest time in the second run was enough to secure her victory. Brignone finished ahead of a Nordic duo comprising Sweden's Sara Hector and Norway's Thea Louise Stjernesund, who tied for second place, who, curiously, had posted the same times in both runs. After winning gold in the Super-G, she added a second Olympic gold to her record. With today's victory, the 35-year-old Italian skier became the oldest-ever winner of a gold medal in the Winter Games. She won the Giant Slalom Olympic title just one year after winning the World Championship title in Saalbach.

The Italian skier was competing in her fifth Winter Olympics at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games. She has now won five Olympic medals, including two golds, a bronze in Giant Slalom at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, and a silver in Giant Slalom and a bronze in the Alpine Combined at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

Federica Brignone completed a perfect comeback today. It's been 318 days since Federica Brignone suffered fractures to her left tibia and fibula, as well as a torn cruciate ligament, in a crash at the Italian Championships.

"I didn’t have the training that I wanted. I knew I needed to be really focused and push hard because I had no margin. I didn’t have the pressure here to be one of the favourites, and I needed to defend anything, so I came here to just make my best skiing (...) I have too many emotions. I can't believe it, yet again!," Brignone said.