MILAN — Host Italy has another top athlete injured ahead of the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Freestyle skier Flora Tabanelli joined Alpine skiers Federica Brignone and Marta Bassino on the sidelines after being diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee on Friday.
The 17-year-old Tabanelli, who won gold in big air at last season’s world championships and was also the World Cup champion in the discipline, was injured during a fall in training this week.
Taking into account that this is an Olympic season and her age, the Italian Winter Sports federation said that Tabanelli would begin a month of rehab on Monday to see if she can avoid surgery.
Tabanelli will perform her rehab at the Juventus soccer club’s J/Medical facility where both Brignone and Bassino have been working out following surgeries.
Brignone broke multiple bones in her left leg during a giant slalom crash at the Italian championships in April and is attempting to return for the Feb. 6-22 Olympics.
Bassino had a lateral fracture of the tibial plateau in her left leg following a crash last month and is out for the season.
Tabanelli’s older brother, Miro, is also a big air skier and claimed victories last season at the Winter X Games and at a World Cup event in Tignes, France, in March on the same day as his sister.
