Alpine skiing-No pressure secret to Brignone's success, she says

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Feb 15 : Italy's Federica Brignone said the secret behind her giant slalom gold medal on Sunday was the absence of pressure and a sense of complete freedom.

Brignone, 35, completed a golden double on home snow at the Winter Olympics in Cortina, adding the giant slalom title to the super-G she claimed last Thursday.

"I think my secret was not to feel any pressure, just to be happy to be here. I came here to enjoy myself, do my best and be grateful to be at home," Brignone told journalists in Cortina.

"I think if I had come here to win gold medals, I would have gone home with none," she added with a wide smile.

A crash in April left the Italian skier - nicknamed 'The Tiger' - with multiple leg fractures and a torn anterior cruciate ligament. 

Until that fall at the Italian Championships, she had been among the favourites for the Games. She finally returned to skiing in late November after 292 days out and two operations.

"It was already a miracle to be here, to carry the flag. This was one of the biggest things I wanted in my life, and I was missing it. Not the gold medal; I didn't care," Brignone said.

She won by 0.62 seconds after dominating the first run on the Olimpia delle Tofane piste, then taking a more controlled approach with the medal in sight.

"It's incredible how I stayed calm and focused on skiing, on doing the right things," she said in bright sunshine.

"During the first run, I was even too calm. I told myself: 'Are you going to get going or are you still sleeping?'

"In the second run, I was more tense. But then I kept telling myself what I had to do - 'attack, take the turns, move.'

"And even as I was skiing down, I kept repeating: 'move, move, move,' because when stress and tension hit, you risk