The Brignone craze: Gold is within reach again!

With her Super-G gold, she wrote one of the most special, incredible, and moving stories of the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. Clearly, Federica Brignone isn't satisfied yet, because after a superb first run in the giant slalom, she's back in the lead.

February 15, 2026

From: leo

The women skiers enjoyed perfect conditions on Sunday, as the sun shone over Cortina and the snow was in excellent condition. This led to a thrilling race, dominated by Federica Brignone. At the halfway point, she is 34 hundredths of a second ahead of Lena Dürr and Sofia Goggia (+0,46 seconds).

On the course designed by Alice Robinson's coach, Nils Coberger, the main focus was on one thing: mastering the many waves and transitions. All the athletes in the top group – whether Julia Scheib, Sara Hector, or Camille Rast – struggled with this. And because each of them made a slight mistake somewhere, the time gaps remained very small (at first). Suddenly, three athletes were tied for the lead: Lara Colturi, Sara Hector, and Thea Louise Stjernesund.

Brignone in its own league

Anyone who thought that would be the end of the interim results was mistaken: Starting with bib number 14, Brignone taught everyone a lesson. The Olympic Super-G champion nailed every section, drawing on her experience, steadily increasing her lead and crossing the finish line 74 hundredths of a second ahead of the aforementioned trio. Two more experienced athletes, Dürr and Goggia, then squeezed in between them. The latter was completely stunned after seeing the scoreboard.

And what about Mikaela Shiffrin? The US superstar delivered a flawless performance, but ultimately her lack of risk cost her over a second. She finished seventh, ahead of the highly favored Scheib (11th) and Rast (12th). Alice Robinson, a two-time winner this season, will also need to improve her performance in the second run, which starts at 1:30 p.m. The New Zealander is currently in tenth place, 1,09 seconds behind the leader.