Alpine skiing-Brignone still aiming for Olympics, wants to leave on her terms
MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's Alpine ski champion Federica Brignone said she was doing all she could to be fit for her home Milan-Cortina Olympics next year and wanted to retire smiling on the slopes rather than forced out by injury.
The 34-year-old told reporters on Wednesday, however, that it was still too early to say whether she would win the battle.
"I got injured at the best moment of my career, of my life," Brignone said at an event in Milan for her sponsor Banca Generali.
"And this is bothering me. I do not want to retire from ski now, like that. I loved this sport so much that I want to retire when I am happy, feeling good on the slopes."
Overall World Cup champion Brignone, who was a leading medal hope at the Games, fractured her left leg and tore knee ligaments when she crashed during a race in the Italian championships in April.
The giant slalom world champion said she remained positive but also realistic and had to respect her body and do what was best for herself.
"My first goal is my health and that will continue to be and it won't change because of external pressures, in the sense that if my body won't make it, it won't make it. I think it will make it and I am very positive, it is responding," she said.
"Some things are going really beyond expectations. Some other things are giving me a hard time, but it's normal, actually after suffering that kind of injury.
"I think I'll be back for the winter. But that's not something I can predict."
Brignone said she would not know until the crutches came off for good how much load she could put on the leg.
"Obviously it was destroyed, so that has to be respected," she added.
The World Cup season starts in October with the Olympics running from February 6-22.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, writing by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Swimming-Excited Marchand relishing reduced schedule in pursuit of medley record
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Leon Marchand is hoping a scaled-back schedule will give him a shot at taking out Ryan Lochte's long-standing world record in the 200 metres individual medley when the world championships begin in Singapore on Sunday. The Frenchman was the standout performer in the pool at last year's Olympics, winning the 200 metres and 400 metres individual medley plus the 200 metres butterfly and 200 metres breaststroke in Paris, but will be swimming a reduced programme over the coming eight days of competition. Marchand will not participate in the butterfly or breaststroke events, leaving the 23-year-old better rested to potentially break Lochte's 14-year-old record. "I think this is a transition year for me so I wanted to have a lighter schedule than usual," Marchand told the media on Saturday. "I wanted to focus on the 200 IM and the 400 IM and the relays with the French team. "I'm really excited to do less than usual, just to see how far can I go, how fast can I go in the 200 IM. "I've always done the 200 IM as a race before, the same as the rest, so it'll be fun (to have) a lighter schedule. "I'm just not used to starting on the Wednesday instead of the first day, which is good because I can finally cheer for my teammates." Marchand won gold in the 200 metres and 400 metres IM events at the 2022 and 2023 world championships and is the current world record holder in the longer of the medley events. Lochte's world record in the 200 metres individual medley has stood since July 2011, with Marchand swimming just six-hundredths of a second slower than the American's 1 minute 54.00 second mark when he won Olympic gold last year. "I'm excited for the Worlds. I want to be close to my (personal bests) in every single one of my races," said Marchand. "Of course, I want to break world records in the next few years. I don't know when that's going to happen. I still have a lot to do in the swimming world." (Reporting by Travis Teo; Writing by Michael Church, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
China's prodigy, 12, takes on swimming world
BEIJING: Yu Zidi discovered swimming as a small child in order to cool off and now aged just 12 the Chinese sensation will showcase her prodigious talents at the world championships from tomorrow. The school girl with the cartoon dog themed swimming cap stunned the sport in May with a series of eye-popping times at China's national championships. Yu, who turns 13 in October, clocked a blistering 2min 10.63sec in the women's 200m individual medley, the fastest time in history at that age. She then romped to victory in the 400m medley in 4:35.53, which would have been enough for fourth place at the Paris Olympics last summer. Yu also triumphed in the 200m butterfly in another scarcely believable swim that would again have only narrowly missed out on a medal in Paris. Her performances easily qualified her for the world championships in Singapore. Yu, who trains in the northern province of Hebei and juggles swimming with her school work, took up the sport as a means of escaping China's searing heat. "The summer that year was too hot, so I went to the water park with my dad," she told the state news agency Xinhua. "I often went to cool off at swimming pools... (and) a coach discovered me." Swimming, homework and coping with the pressure of being China's latest big sporting hope makes for a hectic schedule for the youngster. "I am very busy every day and I don't have much time, but it's also very fulfilling," Yu said, according to Xinhua. Yu first came to national attention last year and drew comparisons at home to Ye Shiwen, who at 16 in London became the youngest Chinese swimmer to win a medal at the Olympics. As well as her speed and stamina, Yu's Hebei coach Li Chao has praised her "good sense" and said her focus "far exceeds her peers." Michael Bohl, China's storied Australian swimming coach, went much further. "I've never seen a 12-year-old that could swim like this," he told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in May. Perhaps with an eye on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, China have named their youngest squad for a swimming world championships, according to expert website SwimSwam. Along with Yu, the headline acts in the squad are men's 100m freestyle world record holder and Olympic champion Pan Zhanle, and Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei. Qin cleaned up in the breaststroke at the worlds in 2023, only to fail to win a medal in individual events at the Paris Games last summer. He did though win gold and silver in medley relays. "Butterfly Queen" Zhang has won 10 Olympic medals, among them 200m fly gold at Tokyo in 2021. China entered the Paris Olympics under a doping cloud following revelations that 23 of its swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Games. In April 2024, The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD said they had tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) at a domestic competition in late 2020 and early 2021. Chinese anti-doping authorities determined the 23 had ingested trace amounts of the drug unwittingly from tainted food at their hotel. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted that explanation and did not sanction the swimmers, which led US anti-doping authorities to accuse WADA of a cover-up. WADA denies this. Nine of the swimmers who failed doping tests are competing in Singapore, including Qin and Zhang.
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
China prodigy takes on swimming world aged 12
BEIJING: Yu Zidi discovered swimming as a small child in order to cool off and now aged just 12 the Chinese sensation will showcase her prodigious talents at the world championships from tomorrow. The school girl with the cartoon dog themed swimming cap stunned the sport in May with a series of eye-popping times at China's national championships. Yu, who turns 13 in October, clocked a blistering 2min 10.63sec in the women's 200m individual medley, the fastest time in history at that age. She then romped to victory in the 400m medley in 4:35.53, which would have been enough for fourth place at the Paris Olympics last summer. Yu also triumphed in the 200m butterfly in another scarcely believable swim that would again have only narrowly missed out on a medal in Paris. Her performances easily qualified her for the world championships in Singapore. Yu, who trains in the northern province of Hebei and juggles swimming with her school work, took up the sport as a means of escaping China's searing heat. "The summer that year was too hot, so I went to the water park with my dad," she told the state news agency Xinhua. "I often went to cool off at swimming pools... (and) a coach discovered me." Swimming, homework and coping with the pressure of being China's latest big sporting hope makes for a hectic schedule for the youngster. "I am very busy every day and I don't have much time, but it's also very fulfilling," Yu said, according to Xinhua. Yu first came to national attention last year and drew comparisons at home to Ye Shiwen, who at 16 in London became the youngest Chinese swimmer to win a medal at the Olympics. As well as her speed and stamina, Yu's Hebei coach Li Chao has praised her "good sense" and said her focus "far exceeds her peers." Michael Bohl, China's storied Australian swimming coach, went much further. "I've never seen a 12-year-old that could swim like this," he told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in May. Perhaps with an eye on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, China have named their youngest squad for a swimming world championships, according to expert website SwimSwam. Along with Yu, the headline acts in the squad are men's 100m freestyle world record holder and Olympic champion Pan Zhanle, and Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei. Qin cleaned up in the breaststroke at the worlds in 2023, only to fail to win a medal in individual events at the Paris Games last summer. He did though win gold and silver in medley relays. "Butterfly Queen" Zhang has won 10 Olympic medals, among them 200m fly gold at Tokyo in 2021. China entered the Paris Olympics under a doping cloud following revelations that 23 of its swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Games. In April 2024, The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD said they had tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) at a domestic competition in late 2020 and early 2021. Chinese anti-doping authorities determined the 23 had ingested trace amounts of the drug unwittingly from tainted food at their hotel. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted that explanation and did not sanction the swimmers, which led US anti-doping authorities to accuse WADA of a cover-up. WADA denies this. Nine of the swimmers who failed doping tests are competing in Singapore, including Qin and Zhang.
