Freshly-crowned double Olympic champion Federica Brignone ends ski season to rehab leg

MILAN (AP) — Federica Brignone’s body “is paying the price” after she hurried back from a broken leg to win two gold medals at the Milan Cortina Olympics and the Italian skier announced on Monday that she won’t compete again this season.

The move comes after Brignone, who won gold in super-G and giant slalom at her home Games, finished 15th and eighth in two World Cup super-G races over the weekend in Andorra.

“I asked a lot of my body over these months,” she said. “I tried to continue the season but now my body is paying the price. So I’m taking advantage of the season being nearly over to give myself a break and then continue with my rehab.”

During a crash last April, Brignone broke multiple bones in her left leg and was unable to walk for three months. Two surgeries and 42 stitches were required to put her leg back together — and she still has a metal plate and a handful of screws inside.

She didn’t compete again until late January — little more than two weeks before the Olympics.

Brignone will miss this weekend’s World Cup races on home snow in Val di Fassa, plus the final two stops on the circuit in Åre, Sweden, and Lillehammer, Norway.

She indicated last week that she might end her career if her leg doesn’t start to feel better soon.

At 35, Brignone became the oldest woman to win gold in Alpine skiing at the Olympics.

Last season, she was the overall World Cup champion.

___

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing