
Brignone still unsure if she will be fit for Winter Games
Brignone, who turns 35 in July, won the alpine ski World Cup overall title and World Championship giant slalom gold last season but suffered a career-threatening double leg fracture in her last race in April.
"I'd like to be able to say that I'll definitely be at the start of the next Winter Olympics, but today I don't know," Brignone told a press briefing in Turin.
The Games are being hosted by Milan Cortina next February.
"I'm going to try, I'm doing everything I can, but the most important thing for me is to get better and then come back to ski racing," she said.
"The Olympics are a great source of motivation, it's true that there's still time between now and the Olympics, but time is running out."
The Italian dominated the 2024-25 season on the women's circuit, winning 10 races, her second overall World Cup title and both the giant slalom and downhill crystal globes.
Brignone suffered a double tibia-fibula fracture in her left leg on April 3 during the Italian Championships.
She said she does not know when she'll be able to resume training on snow.
"As long as I can't put my foot down, it's hard to say, I'll only put skis back on when I'm well, not to be on one leg," she said.
During an operation on her broken leg, surgeons noticed a ligament tear in her left knee.
"We're not worried about the cruciate ligament," Italian Winter Sports Federation doctor Andrea Panzeri, who is overseeing Brignone's rehabilitation, said on Tuesday.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


France 24
7 hours ago
- France 24
French Open: Sinner dominates Djokovic to set up final with Alcaraz
05:10 World No.1 Jannik Sinner dominated Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the French Open to make it through to the final where he will face defending champion Carlos Alcaraz. In soccer, Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola withdrew from the Nations League. Italy failed to win in 2026 World Cup qualifier, as did Belgium. Tottenham parted company with coach Ange Postecoglou, while in Moto GP, world championship leader Marc Marquez dominated practice at the Aragon GP.


France 24
13 hours ago
- France 24
South Africa seek end to trophy misery in WTC final against Australia
The Proteas have won just one International Cricket Council trophy –- the ICC Knockout -- a forerunner of the Champions Trophy, back in 1998, alongside a list of agonising near-misses. By contrast the top-ranked Australians, who beat India in the 2023 WTC final, have an enviable record at the sharp end of tournaments in the white-ball game. They have won the one-day World Cup a record six times, lifted the Champions Trophy twice and have also triumphed at the T20 World Cup. "It is different," Bavuma said ahead of the WTC final at Lord's starting on Wednesday. "Australia have had success. They know what they need to do." But the 35-year-old batsman is adamant South Africa will not be overawed when facing Pat Cummins' team. "For us it is about being confident in our ability," said Bavuma. "We haven't been handed this opportunity to play in the final, we have performed accordingly. We respect them (Australia) but it is still a 50-50 chance in our eyes." Heartache has been the recurring theme of South Africa's history at global events going back to the 1992 World Cup, when they returned to the international fold after two decades of exclusion as a result of the country's apartheid regime. South Africa reached the semi-finals only for a cruel rain rule, that left them needing 21 off one ball, to wreck their chances against England in Sydney. That set a pattern for the next three ODI World Cups. South Africa dominated their group stage in Pakistan in 1996 before falling to a Brian Lara-inspired West Indies in the quarter-finals. A farcical run-out with the scores tied in a 1999 semi-final against Australia meant they were eliminated on net run-rate. On home soil in 2003, rain and a miscalculation of the run-rate formula against Sri Lanka led to an embarrassing group-stage exit. Not until last year's T20 World Cup did South Africa reach a major final. Finally, a trophy was in sight as a rampant Heinrich Klaasen took South Africa to within 30 runs of victory with 30 balls and six wickets remaining. But Klaasen was dismissed, Jasprit Bumrah bowled superbly and David Miller fell to a sensational boundary catch in the last over as South Africa fell short yet again. Springbok lessons Test cricket, however, is one format in which South Africa have ruled the world. They topped the rankings under Graeme Smith's leadership in 2009 and held the ICC Test Mace –- before the World Test Championship was introduced –- from 2013 until 2015. Bavuma is the only survivor from an era when South Africa could boast world-class players including Smith, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander. Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada is the only current player who would be a contender for a place in a South Africa all-time team. But Bavuma has an impressive record of eight wins and a draw in the nine Tests in which he has captained. The skipper lauded coach Shukri Conrad for helping create a strong team spirit, saying: "We don't boast legendary names. For us to achieve what we have is a tribute to him." Conrad has spent time with Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus in a bid to sharpen his side's winning edge. Erasmus has guided South Africa to back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles, with the Springboks showing extraordinary mental strength in winning three successive knockout matches by a single point on the way to their 2023 triumph in Paris. "Obviously they are doing a lot of things right," said Conrad, who was clear about the key lesson he had learned from Erasmus. "Playing for the Springboks has got to be the biggest thing -- playing for the Proteas has got to be the biggest thing for our players," he explained. "That is what we have to hone in on."


France 24
14 hours ago
- France 24
Venezuela boost qualification hopes as Colombia falter
A calamitous fifth-minute own goal from Hector Cuellar and a 30th-minute strike from veteran forward Salomon Rondon ensured the three points for the Vinotinto in Maturin. The victory, which came after a frustrating night for Colombia, left Venezuela in seventh place on 18 points - three points behind Colombia and Uruguay. Venezuela travel to Uruguay on Tuesday knowing a win would put them in real contention for a top six spot and an automatic place in next year's tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico. The final two games for Uruguay come in September when they are away to already qualified Argentina before a potentially crucial last match at home to Colombia on September 6. The top six teams in South America qualify directly for the World Cup with the seventh placed country entering the inter-confederation playoffs. Bolivia gifted the home side the lead when Cuellar played a gentle back pass towards his goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra who somehow failed to control the ball which passed through his legs and into the net. The much-travelled Rondon, Venezuela's all-time top scorer, doubled the lead on the half hour when he brought down a cross from the right and under pressure buried the ball in the corner with his left foot. Jon Aramburu should have made it 3-0 in the 68th minute when he was set up by Rondon but side-footed wide. Eighth-placed Bolivia, who now fall four points behind Venezuela, went close to pulling a goal back in the 75th minute when Lucas Chavez's effort grazed the outside of the post. Colombia, runners-up in the Copa America last year, are making life difficult for themselves after being held by second to last Peru in Barranquilla, extending their winless run in the CONMEBOL qualifiers to five games. Missing the suspended Liverpool winger Luis Diaz, Colombia lacked creativity in attack against a resilient Peru back line and they were booed off the field at the final whistle. "Two fundamental things were missing to win the game, which was the final third and precision. And I think Peru defended very well. They made it difficult for us in that sense," said Colombia's Argentine coach Nestor Lorenzo. Colombia face Argentina in Buenos Aires on Tuesday. Argentina, who are on 34 points, are assured of top spot in the group while Ecuador and Paraguay are on 24 points ahead of Brazil on 22. Just six points separate second-placed Ecuador from seventh-placed Venezuela with three rounds of games remaining.