Sawt Falasteen - Speed queen Goggia pursuing Olympic dreams with 2026 Winter Games on horizon

Speedster Goggia will compete in the women's alpine skiing events at Cortina d'Ampezzo, a special place for the 32-year-old who will be trying to reclaim the downhill gold medal she won in Pyeongchang in 2018.

Goggia, silver medallist at the 2022 Beijing Games, has won four World Cup downhills on the Olimpia delle Tofane piste, more than on any other slope, with her most recent success there coming in typically fearless fashion last month.

"My first two Olympics were at white elephant venues in Asia, so I'm happy to take part in the games at Cortina, it's a place that has meant a lot to me throughout my career, it's a great piste," said Goggia in an interview with AFP.

"Every day that I spend at Cortina is a good day."

Goggia's courageous style has made the bubbly Bergamo native a four-time World Cup downhill champion and one of Italy's most popular athletes, but it has also brought her a raft of injuries, beginning with anterior cruciate ligament tears in each knee in two separate crashes as a teenager.

- Only a game -

Her silver medal in China three years ago, when she finished 0.16sec behind Corinne Suter, came just weeks after suffering a minor leg fracture and partial ACL tear at Cortina and was a result she calls "a miracle".

"I was focused, but I didn't feel pressure, I looked at the Olympics as if they were a game because that's what they are," says Goggia.

"So many athletes put so much pressure on themselves!"

Goggia's most recent win at Cortina was also her first in a downhill World Cup race since she suffered multiple fractures in her right leg during a giant slalom training session in Ponte di Legno a year ago.

"That injury and the rehabilitation were very hard. I was stuck at home for two months and unable to move," says Goggia.

"What I wanted was the chance to win a World Cup race again -- that's what I focused on and what motivated me. Now that I've achieved that after so much effort I'll keep pursuing my dreams."

The Milan-Cortina Games will likely be Goggia's last chance for Olympic gold as she will be 33 by the time the event is up and running, but she says she is not thinking about any farewells in front of her fans.

"The Olympics are always special, it's about those five rings along the piste, whether they're being held in Italy or not," says Goggia.

"It's that day that comes once every four years, when you have to be there. They've always been my dream event since I was a kid and they still are.

"But I'm not thinking about that yet. I'm not thinking about what it might be like and what could happen, because I'm in the middle of my own process and taking it one day at a time. I'll think about the Games once I'm there."

F.AbuShamala--SF-PST