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Freestyle skier Flora Tabanelli joins crowded injured list for host Italy ahead of the Olympics

Freestyle skier Flora Tabanelli joins crowded injured list for host Italy ahead of the Olympics | iNFOnews.ca
FILE -Bronze medalist Flora Tabanelli of Italy competes in the Women's Freeski Big Air final during the FIS Snowboard & Freeski World Cup 2025, at the Shougang Park in Beijing, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

MILAN (AP) — Host Italy has another top athlete injured ahead of the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

Freestyle skier Flora Tabanelli joined Alpine skiers Federica Brignone and Marta Bassino on the sidelines after being diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee on Friday.

The 17-year-old Tabanelli, who won gold in big air at last season’s world championships and was also the World Cup champion in the discipline, was injured during a fall in training this week.

Taking into account that this is an Olympic season and her age, the Italian Winter Sports federation said that Tabanelli would begin a month of rehab on Monday to see if she can avoid surgery.

Tabanelli will perform her rehab at the Juventus soccer club’s J/Medical facility where both Brignone and Bassino have been working out following surgeries.

Brignone broke multiple bones in her left leg during a giant slalom crash at the Italian championships in April and is attempting to return for the Feb. 6-22 Olympics.

Bassino had a lateral fracture of the tibial plateau in her left leg following a crash last month and is out for the season.

Tabanelli’s older brother, Miro, is also a big air skier and claimed victories last season at the Winter X Games and at a World Cup event in Tignes, France, in March on the same day as his sister.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

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