Brignone gets second Olympic gold in incredible Giant Slalom

Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol) continued her fairytale of an Olympic Games by winning a second gold medal in Cortina.

Brignone’s astonishing recovery from injury has led her directly to the pinnacle of sport, doing so in her home nation on two separate occasions now.

Brignone was joined in celebrations by spectacular joint silver medals for Sara Hector (SWE/Head) and Thea Louise Stjernesund (NOR/Rossignol), who were inseparable across both runs.

La Tigre is Queen of the Slopes

Can a home Games go any better? It had already been a remarkable Olympics for Federica Brignone. Having recovered from a severe leg break and returned just weeks before the Games, Brignone’s victory in the Super G created memories and emotions that will last a lifetime. But just three days later, Brignone goes down in history as a double-Olympic champion. It's an astonishing achievement for the home hero.

After the pain of the past 12 months, Brignone’s turnaround to winning a double gold is unprecedented. But in a way, she believes the lack of expectation has helped her prepare for greatness. “I didn’t have the training that I wanted, I knew I had to make it better, I needed to be really concentrated and really push because I had no margin. I didn’t have the pressure here to be one of the favourites and that I needed to defend anything, so I came here to just make my best skiing.”

Run One

Blue skies, sun shining and an Olympic title to claim. The women’s GS had all the makings of a Games classic. For Sara Hector (SWE/Head), it was a day of extra meaning as she looked to defend her Olympic title from bib two. The Beijing 2022 champion levelled the opening run of Thea Louise Stjernesund (NOR/Rossignol) at 1:03.97. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) ensured she’d be in contention too for that second run, three tenths of a second back from the two early runners.

In contrast to yesterday’s astonishing run by Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA/Atomic) in the men’s competition, there really wasn’t an out-and-out dominant run as the opening pack were all in and amongst one another. Alice Robinson (NZL/Salomon), Camille Rast (SUI/Head), Paula Moltzan (USA/Rossignol) and Valerie Grenier (CAN/Rossignol) were all less than half a second behind the early joint leaders, just like World Cup leader Julia Scheib (AUT/Rossignol).

It really didn’t let up. Albania’s Lara Colturi (ALB/Blizzard) became the third joint leader at that by now familiar 1:03.97 mark, a start to this race that really told us very little ahead of the second later in the day.

But then came Federica Brignone. The Italian has already brought joy to the Cortina slopes with an emotional Super G victory, and this only built on the excitement around La Tigre. Brignone emerged from the tight times to burst into a huge 0.74s lead, turning very real dreams of a second gold into a huge reality for the second run.

Lena Duerr (GER/Head) cut that gap superbly to 0.34s, with Brignone’s teammate Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic) left in disbelief as she moved into an early third, 0.46s back. It had all the makings of an unbelievable finale when the afternoon came about.

Run Two

With little to separate much of those chasing down Brignone, the second GS run was filled with drama. Lara Della Mea (ITA/Fischer) was at the helm of the standings, with World Cup leader Schieb unable to overtake. Robinson, Rast and Grenier couldn’t either, the trio out of medal contention as the leading seven from the first run prepared to make a push.

The first of those seven was Shiffrin, who struggled to find the flow in her second run and miss out on the top three as it stood at that point. Then came the trio that shared the same first run time, and the first of those displaced Della Mea in the leader’s seat. Stjernesund moved into temporary first by 0.05s, with Hector following up in pursuit of back-to-back Olympic titles. Incredibly, Hector equalled Stjernesund AGAIN – two exact times across both of their runs. Colturi couldn’t follow up her strong run in the same style, leaving just Goggia, Duerr and Brignone to go. Goggia missed out, ensuring Hector and Stjernesund were in the medals. Would it be joint gold?

Duerr and Brignone were the only two remaining with the chance to displace them from top. Despite a superb middle section, Duerr wasn’t able to keep in contention for the medals, leaving only Brignone to go for her second Olympic title of these home Games. The 0.74s advantage from run one had her in pole position, and the dream came true. Brignone was superb yet again in her second run, securing another superb title by 0.62s.

Full Results from the Giant Slalom

Hector back on the podium

From Olympic champion in 2022 to a joint silver in 2026, it’s been another memorable Games experience for Sweden’s Sara Hector. Having performed admirably in her both run to be part of a triple leader at one point, Hector kept the composure to return to an Olympic podium in dramatic circumstances.

“I was really not expecting that – my first run I felt a bit on the defensive side, I was a little bit scared because I’m not so used to doing so many blind gates on a course like this, it’s a little bit more speedy track. I was so nervous in the start! But after the first, I had to push everything I had in the second.”

And even though she nailed her second run too, at times she wasn’t sure: “In the second I was like, no this is not how this is supposed to go! But it was enough for silver and I’m super happy, super proud.”

But even while overjoyed at the medal, it was her joy for those she's sharing podium moments with that Hector wanted to share with the media.

Thea Louise feels the joy

Going out first is never easy, but Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund set the pace – and then defended what she had done perfectly. Stjernesund was left in tears in the chair after securing an astonishing joint silver alongside Hector.

For Stjernesund, the fact she was able to share such a dramatic silver with a friend in Hector makes it mean all the more. "It's something special when you get to actually share a podium, especially a medal. It's always something you wish for and work for, but to actually feel that you're going to get it is something else. It couldn't be a more shared silver! It wasn't that I had a first and she a good second, I don't know about a more shared silver! I'm just so happy that it's Sara, such a good friend of mine, couldn't be better."

The Slalom Awaits

We’ve got through eight finals in alpine at these Olympic Games – and there are two more to go. Tomorrow (16 February) the men’s competition draws to a close in the slalom, while the women’s slalom will take place on Wednesday (18 February).

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