Immense Flora Tabanelli! At 18 he won bronze in Big Air with a broken cruciate (and it was the first Italian freestyle Olympic medal)

He is 18 years old. He competed with an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee, which was never operated on in order to be able to participate in the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Yet she climbed onto the Olympic podium. It’s not a fairy tale, it’s the reality written by Flora Tabanelli in the sky of Livigno, where she won an extraordinary bronze in the Big Air.

A medal that weighs twice as much. Because it arrives just 102 days after the injury, because it is his seasonal debut and above all because it is the first Olympic medal ever for Italian freestyle. A niche sport, often far from the spotlight, which suddenly explodes before everyone’s eyes and confirms once again, after the successes of Federica Brignone, Francesca Lollobrigida and Lisa Vitozzi, how much it is an Olympics dedicated to women.

And if all these records weren’t enough, with this bronze, Flora becomes the sixth Italian to do a repeat Youth Olympic Games-Winter Olympic Games after Elia Barp, Simon Kainzwaldner, Amos Mosaner, Thomas Nadalini and Marion Oberhofer. An enormous haul for her and for the Azzurri who reached 23 medals, won in 10 disciplines, consolidating second place in the medal table.

The last run that changes everything

Tabanelli built his masterpiece on the last descent. A run of 94.25 points, the best of the entire final, which allowed her to finish with 178.25 points overall. In front of her only the Canadian Megan Oldham (180.75) and the Chinese champion Eileen Gu (179). But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. They tell little about the pain managed in every deadlift, the stability found on a knee that hasn’t yet healed, the coldness with which a barely adult girl transformed Olympic pressure into pure energy.

Strength beyond misfortune

In November, the diagnosis: cruciate rupture. For many it would mean the season is over, a dream postponed. Not for her. He chose not to stop, to work, to grit his teeth and to rely on conservative therapy. Anything to show up at the Games. At 18 you are allowed to make mistakes, to learn and grow, but Flora didn’t do anything wrong and wrote a page of history in Italian sport.

In fact, never before had Italy stood on an Olympic podium in freeskiing. The best result remained a fifth place in Beijing 2022. Today that limit has been exceeded. Tabanelli’s bronze opens a new path for a sport far from the most celebrated Alpine traditions. It’s a powerful signal: Italian freestyle exists, competes, wins. And while she smiles with the medal around her neck, an image remains imprinted: an eighteen-year-old with an injured knee who flies higher than all fears. Hats off to Flora Tabanelli!

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