Dr Panzeri goes into detail: “Fede’s knee is better than I expected, the pain should decrease”

For the third time in just under a year and a half, Federica Brignone has undergone surgery performed by Dr Andrea Panzeri at La Madonnina clinic. Today’s operation was carried out to remove the plate and screws from the tibial plateau of the left knee injured on 3 April 2025.

As La Salle’s champion herself had hinted, the test on 30 July on the snow in Cervinia had not given her the right sensations to consider travelling to Ushuaia. At that point, the decision was made to opt for surgery, as had happened in a similar case—although the fracture was different—in Sofia Goggia’s case in the summer two years ago. Goggia subsequently no longer felt that excruciating pain in her right leg and made a spectacular return, finishing second in the downhill and first in the super-G at Beaver Creek.

For the two-time Olympic champion and World Cup winner, the timetable is different when considering the season opener—the giant slalom on Soelden’s Rettenbach glacier next 24 October—and seeing her on the course in 60 days appears very complicated, particularly because she will miss the entire on-snow part of the preparation that had been planned in Argentina.

A minimum of four weeks is being discussed before she can resume activity. The days on skis will then be different and decisive in terms of her response, but surgery on the meniscus was avoided. This had been a concern for Fede before she went into the operating theatre in Milan this afternoon, and Dr Panzeri spoke in detail about what he found. “Together with Dr Thiebat, we removed the plate, and I must say that the knee seems almost better than I expected,” explained the head of the medical commission, speaking on video through the federation’s press office. “During the arthroscopy, we saw a reasonably healthy cruciate ligament, obviously with all the after-effects of the fracture and therefore damaged cartilage, but the meniscus is, all things considered, in fairly good shape.

Now the entire scar has to heal, along with the incisions we made. I am satisfied and I think Federica will be able to resume her activity in 4–6 weeks, but we cannot guarantee what her condition will be in terms of pain. I found a fairly good joint situation, so there is a good chance that the pain she was experiencing will improve.”