Alpine skiing-Brignone says golden double surely ends era of sacrifices

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, ITALY, Feb 16 : A day after winning Olympic giant slalom gold at the Milano Cortina Games to add to her super-G title on home snow, Federica Brignone said she would no longer make the sacrifices that had carried her through a 10-month return from injury, surgery and rehabilitation that left her fighting simply to get back to competition, let alone Olympic fitness.

“Surely I’m not willing anymore to, I mean, I’ve never taken many, but to take drugs to (be able to) ski...,” the 35-year-old said at a press conference on Monday.

After a crash last April that left her with displaced fractures in her left leg and a torn anterior cruciate ligament, Brignone had to make a near total commitment across almost a year shaped by pain management, recovery work and the daily grind of rebuilding strength.

“I worked around the clock to be able to be on the track and be competitive, so I want to work yes like the other years, but not in such an exhausting way," Brignone said.

The medals themselves brought her not relief or closure but overload after her long recovery.

“I don’t think it creates emptiness for me but it creates way too much chaos,” she said. “I’m almost scared because at this moment of my career I don’t have so much desire for it, I must admit.”

Instead of celebration, the immediate aftermath sharpened a need for calm after months lived at full intensity.

"I would like, after 10 months like this, not a break, but the only thing I want is to be a bit calm and do again a bit my things, the things I like.”

For now, continuing the season may offer both protection and time to decide how far she wants to push herself again.

The rhythm of competition remains familiar ground even as the longer-term horizon feels uncertain.