Marta Bassino, an Alpine skiing world champion from Italy, will miss the Milan Cortina Olympics after sustaining a lateral fracture of the tibial plateau in her left leg in a ski training fall.
The Italian ski federation said Wednesday that she will be back on skis no sooner than four months from now.
The Alpine skiing World Cup season begins Saturday with the traditional opening giant slalom in Sölden, Austria (4 and 7 a.m. ET, Peacock).
Bassino, 29, has been part of a strong group of Italian women’s Alpine skiers, two of which are now sidelined from racing heading toward the Milan Cortina Games.
She won world titles in the now-defunct parallel event in 2021 and in the super-G in 2023.
She also earned a World Cup season title in the giant slalom in 2020-21 and won six World Cup GS races from 2019 through 2022.
Her best finish last season was fourth in the World Cup Finals super-G in March.
The Italian team was already without reigning World Cup overall champion Federica Brignone, who is out indefinitely (and possibly through the Olympics) after breaking her left leg in a GS crash in April.
Italy’s other star is Sofia Goggia, who won downhill gold in 2018 and silver in 2022.
