'This was my dream': Brignone dominates Super G to finally win in Cortina

With the Olympic Winter Games in sight, the Cortina monkey is finally off the back of Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol).

The Italian superstar won her first race in the Queen of the Dolomites in Sunday's Super G, just 24 hours after a debut podium there that followed a career's worth of disappointment at the famous venue.

In claiming her fourth victory of the season, Brignone put on a Super G masterclass, dominating every element of the course to finish over a second ahead of all but one other skier, runner-up Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/Head, +0.58s).

"Here in Cortina was one of the only places where I was not able to go on the podium, and I really wanted this," Brignone said.

"This was my dream. It was like a taboo, everybody was asking, 'In Cortina, you're never good.'"

Her results confirmed that unflattering description, as in 28 World Cup and world championship races in Cortina prior to this weekend, Brignone's best effort was fourth and she had only recorded five top-10 finishes.

But with the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games looming in just over a year's time, Brignone has finally come to terms with her Cortina demons and signalled that she will be a medal contender on home snow next February.

On Sunday, she showed her versatility by mastering the steep dive into the Tofana Schuss at the top of the course and the technical turns of the mid-section, recording the best time of all in three out of the four sectors of the race.

One late line heading into a gate towards the bottom of the course was the only minor mistake in an otherwise flawless run that saw her extend her lead in the Overall World Cup standings to over 100 points.

"It was not easy at the end today, it was really going fast," she said. "You had to have the courage to really let it go with the bumps."

In winning her 31st World Cup race, Brignone moved into equal 11th on the women's all-time list with Petra Vlhova (SVK/Rossignol) and Erika Hess (SUI), as well as outright sixth with 11 Super G victories.

The 34-year-old also extended two of her own records as the Italian women's Alpine skier with the most World Cup triumphs and as the oldest winner of a women's World Cup race.

"I'm so grateful and happy about this weekend," said the Rossignol skier, who now has four podiums in the last nine days and 75 in her career.

Gut-Behrami, a skier with a similar skillset to Brignone, was closely behind the Italian's splits all the way down the mountain and remained in touch until two wild jumps at the bottom of the course put paid to her chances of victory.

The three-Globe winner from a season ago is still searching for her first victory of 2024/25, and after a slow start to this campaign, she is seeing positive signs.

"I'm struggling a little bit more compared to last year, (but) it's getting better day by day," Gut-Behrami said.

"I don't think I'm skiing that bad, just making a few mistakes. I hope one day I can show one run from the top to the finish the way I want."

The technical turns in the middle section of the course set by Cristolph Alster (AUT) suited Giant Slalom skiers Brignone and Gut-Behrami, but didn't do any favours to the speed specialists.

One of them, however, Olympic Downhill champion Corinne Suter (SUI/Head), took advantage of a clean track and more sunshine than most as the first skier out of the gate to set the early target time and hold on for third place.

"For me it was OK with bib No.1," said Suter, who finished 1.08 seconds behind Brignone. "I had no chance to watch (other skiers), just the forerunner, so I just tried to put my heart in the hands and just ski with my instinct."

Her run was so good, in fact, that Brignone was unsure if she had bettered it.

"When I crossed the finish line I said, 'Maybe, I don't know,' and then I saw the time, because I saw Corinne Suter, and she made really an amazing run, and I was standing before her so I said, 'Maybe today is perfect,'" Brignone said.

Suter, who is still on the comeback from an ACL injury that she suffered in Cortina a year ago, is now returning to some of her best form following a fifth-place finish in Saturday's Downhill.

"Now I build confidence with every race," she said.

Among the in-form speed skiers, Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (NOR/Head, sixth), Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic, seventh) and Conny Hütter (AUT/Head, ninth) were all at least 1.2 seconds behind Brignone as they struggled on the technical section.

Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head), in the fifth race of her comeback and her 400th World Cup start, was only half-a-second behind Brignone at the halfway stage but went down on her inside ski on a right-footed turn shortly after and didn't finish.

This weekend was a hiccup in her otherwise impressive return to elite ski racing at age 40, leaving Vonn — as well as every other skier on tour — to only dream of being in the zone that Brignone finds herself in at the moment.

"Finally today I was really skiing free," Brignone said. "I make it as I had it in my head, and this is just amazing when it comes because it's not easy to do."