Brignone Ends 2025-26 Ski Season Early for Rehab

Federica Brignone, Italy's 35-year-old Olympic champion and reigning World Cup overall title holder, announced on Monday that she will end her 2025-26 ski season early, skipping the remaining races to prioritize rehabilitation for a severe leg injury sustained last spring.

The decision means Brignone will miss the World Cup events in Val di Fassa, Italy, from March 6 to 8, as well as competitions in Åre, Sweden, on March 14 and 15, and the season finals in Lillehammer, Norway, from March 21 to 25. Her announcement follows a physically taxing weekend in Andorra, where she finished 15th in one super-G race and eighth in another, results that highlighted the ongoing strain from her accelerated recovery.

Brignone's choice stems from the toll of her rapid return to competition after a crash on April 3, 2025, during the Italian National Championships in Val di Fassa. In the second run of the giant slalom, after posting the fastest time in the first, she suffered multiple fractures in her left leg, including a comminuted tibial plateau fracture, along with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Airlifted to a hospital in Trento and later undergoing emergency surgery in Milan, she had a...