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Brignone will give her all to be ready for Winter Olympics / Photo: © AFP/File
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Brignone will give her all to be ready for Winter Olympics
World Cup champion Federica Brignone, who suffered a horror injury at the end of last season, doesn't know if she will be able to ski this winter but the Italian wants to "give her all" to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics on home soil.
The 35-year-old also admitted she didn't know if she would ever walk again after suffering a double left leg break in the season-closing Italian championships in April.
"I don't know if I'll be able to compete this season or not. I don't have the answer," she said during a press conference at her ski equipment headquarters in the French town of Saint-Jean-de-Moirans on Thursday.
"I'm going to give it my all, but I'm not ready to ski yet," added the Italian, who dominated last season, winning the overall World Cup title and both the downhill and giant slalom categories, before the accident.
"Given the severity of the accident, it wasn't even certain that I would ever be able to ski or walk properly again in my life. So what I'm doing is already good.
"But my goal is higher. I want to do everything I love again, to be a 100 percent skier."
Brignone, who also won the giant slalom world title this year, underwent a second operation at the end of July to speed up her recovery but there is still a long way to go before she is back out on the snow.
"I tried running, for example, but I can't last 10 minutes," she admitted.
"Not a day goes by without me being in pain.
"Considering what I've been through, I'm already back to a good level. But to be an athlete who wants to compete in the Olympics, I'm not there yet.
"But I'm working very hard to come back."
Even if she does make it to the Milano-Cortina Games in just four months time, Brignone will be far from her best.
"I'm going to give it my all because I don't want to have any regrets, but it's already clear that it will be completely different (compared to last winter) and I have to accept that," said Brignone who has never won an Olympic gold medal, with two bronze and a silver to her name.
“But I don't need the Olympics. What I've done in my career is already much more than I ever dreamed of.
"I don't need to be at the Olympics to see who I am and what I have done done in this sport."
Z.Tomaszewski--GL
