BEIJING (AP) 鈥� A two-time Olympic medalist in Alpine skiing from Italy thinks her country鈥檚 2026 Milan-Cortina Games will lack 鈥渟pirit鈥� and 鈥渁tmosphere鈥� because the venues will be spread far apart from each other.
Federica Brignone, who won a silver in giant slalom at the Beijing Games last week and a bronze in that event four years ago in Pyeongchang, said in response to a question from The Associated Press on Monday that she doesn鈥檛 see herself competing in four years because 鈥渢here will be no Olympic spirit.鈥�
Taking advantage of new and more flexible rules from the International Olympic Committee, splits Alpine skiing between Bormio (for the men) and Cortina d鈥橝mpezzo (for the women). The two ski areas are separated by a five-hour car ride.
The 31-year-old Brignone, who won the overall World Cup title in 2019-20, said that division will make each site feel more like a weekly World Cup race than a major event.
Other venues for 2026 will also be spread across a wide swath of northern Italy, with hockey and figure skating in Milan; speedskating, cross-country skiing and ski jumping in Trentino; snowboarding in Livigno and biathlon at Anterselva.
In addition to women's skiing, Cortina will also host sliding sports on , plus curling.
鈥淓veryone will be in their own area,鈥� Brignone said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to take advantage of the existing structures and not consume and build new venues; from an ecological standpoint it will be much better. But in terms of Olympic atmosphere, I鈥檓 not sure how it will be but I don鈥檛 think it will be very nice.鈥�
Brignone spoke after failing to qualify for Italy鈥檚 team for Tuesday鈥檚 downhill.
The Italian Winter Sports Federation later issued a statement quoting Brignone as saying she wouldn鈥檛 miss the Milan-Cortina Olympics 鈥渇or any reason in the world.鈥�
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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf
Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press
