Italian ski racer Federica Brignone has announced that she will undergo immediate surgery after continuing to experience pain in her leg following the devastating injury that nearly ended her 2025-26 season. The double Olympic champion will miss the Italian team’s South American training camp as she undergoes surgery to remove hardware and address lingering issues from last season’s devastating leg injury.
The 2026 double Olympic champion announced the decision Tuesday, August 25, on social media, saying that although her leg continues to improve, she still experiences pain during certain activities and while skiing. “For this reason, after discussing it with the medical team, we have decided to proceed with surgery,” Brignone wrote in Italian. The procedure is intended primarily to remove the plate that was implanted following her injury and “clean up the area.” Doctors will also determine during the operation whether her meniscus requires treatment.
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Brignone had been expected to continue preparations for the upcoming World Cup season, including training with the Italian team in South America. Instead, she will remain in Europe for the operation and recovery.
The surgery comes more than a year after one of the most serious injuries of her career. Brignone suffered a complex tibial fracture at the Italian Alpine Ski Championships in April 2025. The injury required multiple surgeries and left her recovery timeline uncertain for months. A return to World Cup competition appeared increasingly unlikely, and questions remained over whether she would be able to recover sufficiently to defend Italy on home snow at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
Eventually, Brignone returned to competition with an unusual goal: race just enough to qualify for the Olympics. She managed to do so. But not only did she compete— Brignone won both the women’s super-G and giant slalom, becoming one of the defining stories of the Games. The victories were particularly remarkable given how recently she had returned from her injury but also by winning by a strong margin ahead of the competition.
Despite the victorious double gold medal, Brignone was forced to acknowledge the physical toll and did not compete for the rest of the 2025-26 World Cup season. She said after racing that she had been in pain throughout the competition, making her performance at the Olympics even more impressive.
Brignone kept up her rehabilitation and strength training and resumed on-snow training this summer, training on glaciers including Zermatt/Cervinia and Passo Stelvio as she prepared for another World Cup campaign. The return to higher-volume ski training appears to have made the lingering problem more apparent. While Brignone says her leg continues to improve, she has continued to experience pain with certain activities and while skiing. Rather than attempt to train through the problem, she and her medical team have decided to address it now.
The operation will focus on removing the plate and cleaning up the affected area. Whether the meniscus will also require treatment will be determined during the surgery itself.
Brignone said she will provide further updates following the procedure.
The timing of the surgery means Brignone will miss the Italian team’s planned South American training period, an important part of preparation for the upcoming World Cup season. What Tuesday’s surgery means for her 2026-27 campaign remains unclear. With just 60 days until the World Cup opener in Sölden, Austria, Brignone has a relatively short window to recover if she hopes to be on the start gate. Her priority, however, is clear: address the lingering pain now rather than force her way back onto the racecourse before she is ready.
At 36, Brignone has already shown that writing her off would be a mistake. Just six months ago, she arrived at the Milano Cortina Olympics with serious questions surrounding whether her leg would even allow her to compete. She left Cortina with two Olympic gold medals. Now, Brignone faces another recovery.
How quickly she can return to World Cup racing will depend on what doctors find during Tuesday’s surgery and how her leg responds afterward. If her remarkable comeback last season proved anything, however, counting Federica Brignone out would be a mistake.
“That’s all for now, I will keep you updated,” Brignone wrote.
