Next gold: Brignone is the queen of Cortina

It's unbelievable: Federica Brignone has also won Olympic gold in the giant slalom in Cortina, going one better than before.

February 15, 2026

From: dl

Ten months after her serious injury, Brignone can call herself a double Olympic champion. Three days after her Super-G gold, Brignone added another in the giant slalom. The Italian is a phenomenon: at this Olympics, "Fede" is skiing like she did before her injury. Silver went to Sweden's Sara Hector and Norway's Thea Louise Stjernesund, who were tied in both the first and second runs. A rare occurrence, but a wonderful story for the two Scandinavians.

A bitter disappointment: Italian Lara Della Mea missed out on a medal by just five hundredths of a second, finishing fourth. Overall, the gaps were very small. Many skaters who performed strongly in the first round dropped back in the final. Among them were Lena Dürr, who initially held second place, and Sofia Goggia, who finished third, ultimately having to settle for ninth and tenth place respectively.

The ski world bows down

But back to Brignone: The ski world bows down to the 35-year-old. That was evident on Sunday in Cortina. It's simply a fairytale performance that the Italian skier has written at her home Olympics. Nothing more and nothing less. She distanced the two runners-up by a full 62 hundredths of a second. The fourth Italian, Asja Zenere, finished 14th, just 1,13 seconds behind.

Federica Brignone is technically a feast for the eyes. © ANSA / DANIEL DAL ZENNARO

Julia Scheib, however, was completely disappointed. The leader in the Giant Slalom World Cup had to settle for fifth place. New Zealander Alice Robinson (8th) also fell short of expectations. The women's ski races at the Cortina Olympics conclude on Wednesday with the slalom. The men will compete in theirs on Monday (10:00/13:30) in Bormio.

Keywords Olympics 2026 Alpine skiing Cortina Federico Brignone