The world of alpine skiing goes back to wondering about safety of the discipline, especially at a competitive level. With the injury of ‘Koenigin’ (the Queen), Lara Gut-Behrami which causes the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligamentof the medial collateral ligament and of the meniscus will be forced to give up the Olympic Games in his second homeland, Italy, that is Milan Cortina 2026a topic is reopened that every time, even in the face of tragedies, has been quickly opened and just as quickly closed.
As Lara herself stated a few hours after receiving the severe diagnosis – “we have recently witnessed dramatic events in our sport, fatal accidents which involved young athletes”, said the Swiss champion – for the most part alpine skiing the last year has been horrible. The main suspects are the safety on the slopeseven the training ones, ei materials. The athletes themselves are asking for “a step back” at the level technological.
A horrible year for skiing: deaths and serious injuries
Due dead skiersthe Italians Matilde Lorenzi (there are two indictments following the accident that occurred in Val Senales at the end of October 2024) and Matteo Franzoso (he lost his life in Chile after a fall during training last September), the Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin ended up in a coma due to a subdural hematoma reported during the second test of the Bormio downhill race in December last year, and dozens of serious injuries which force athletes to take long stops.
The return of Federica Brignone
Between Lara Gut-Behrami and the blue one Federica Brignone almost a ‘relay’. The Swiss are out, the Italian is back in, with the utmost caution. Yesterday the Italian champion returned to skiing. He did it on the snow at home, a Cerviniaon the Plan Maison slopes in the Cervinia area, in the Aosta Valley. The four descents were followed and monitored by his brother-coach Davide, by the skiman Mauro Sbardelotto and by the head of the Fisi physiotherapists, Giuseppe Abruzzini. The rehabilitation phase of the holder of the Overall World Cup237 days after the fall she suffered at the Italian Championships last April 3rd which caused her fracture of the tibial plateau and the head of the fibula of the left leg, involves the addition of track work with touring skis. The purpose of this phase is to add stability on skis. Il Olympic dream of ‘Faith’ continues.
Broken Olympic dreams and recoveries
Olympic dream already over Marta Rossetti (cruciate knee) e Marta Bassino (tibial plateau fracture), injured in training, both already operated on their leg and out for the entire season. Season concluded for the Italian Alessia Guerinoni (fracture of fibula and malleolus). Nuanced games for the Slovenians Andreja Slokar (new knee cruciate tear) e Naja Dvornik (tibia and fibula fracture), for the French Clarisse Breche (cruciate knee), for the Swede Lisa Nyberg (knee injury) and for Switzerland Andrea Ellenberger (leg fracture). They hope to catch up with the American team by mid-January Katie Hensien (tibia fracture) and Greek Guinness, too who in the fight against time to heal from the rupture of the ligament in his left ankle, which had already been operated on, gave up being the first torchbearer of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Games.
Recoveries and new injuries in the world of skiing
A month ago the nightmare ended for the blue Pietro Zazziwho fell last December 27th in the timed trial of the Bormio descent (fractured tibia and fibula) and for the Austrian, Nina Ortlieb who broke her right leg in January. After a tiring convalescence of almost two years after the fall in Wengen, the Norwegian champion Aleksander Aamodt Source today he is expected at the supergiant World Cup of Copper Mountain (United States). In the freeskiing blue there is a wait for the outcome of the physiotherapy treatment at anterior cruciate ligament of the champion’s right knee Flora Tabanelli. In the ski jumping the spearhead of the Italian team, Lara Malsiner she will remain away from competitions for a long time due to the rupture of the cruciate ligamentof the medial and lateral meniscus.