Brignone opens the season with a triumph in the giant slalom in Solden

“If I have to be honest, it was a surprise for me too because I struggled a lot at the start of the wall but then I said to myself ‘you have to go, you have to go’. I tried to ski in my own way and it worked out well for me I’m very proud of what I did, but I never expected to be in front.” This is the comment of Federica Brignone after the victory in the giant slalom in Soelden which today opened the 59th edition of the Alpine Skiing World Cup.

For the Aosta Valley champion, today was victory number 28 in her career (the thirteenth in giant slalom) and her 70th podium in the Cup. For the Italian women’s movement, this is victory number 130. In the internal ranking, the second most successful Italian is Sofia Goggia with 24 victories (she is expected to return in December), Deborah Compagnoni third with 16, Isolde Kostner fourth with 15. “Today I am stronger in my head than nine years ago, when I won here for the first time – she added Brignone remembering the success of 2015 – now I can control my emotions much better, working is important, I follow every detail and I continually try to improve. Last week I felt a lot of pressure because I had been skiing well all summer in the second heat, I was very alert, I really enjoyed it.” Speaking about the continuation of the season, Federica, a skier from the Carabinieri Sports Centre, concluded by saying: “I have performance objectives for the season, I won’t think about victories, records or Cups, we’ll see how it goes stage by stage”.

The next two races of the women’s White Circus will be special slaloms, Saturday 16 November in Levi in ​​Finland and Saturday 23 in Gurgl in Austria. The giant slalom will return on Saturday 30th in Killington in the United States. There are four Italian ski resorts that appear in the Women’s World Cup calendar. The now classic stages of Plan de Corones (21 January; giant slalom) and above all of Cortina d’Ampezzo have been confirmed – a downhill and a super-giant will take place on the Olimpia delle Tofane on 18 and 19 January 2025 – the stops in Sestriere (22 and 23 February) and La Thuille (15 and 16 March).