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01/07 05:42 CST Host nation Italy sets ambitious medal target for Winter
Olympics despite athlete injuries
Host nation Italy sets ambitious medal target for Winter Olympics despite
athlete injuries
By DANIELLA MATAR
AP Sports Writer
MILAN (AP) --- Italy will be hoping to deliver on and off the snow and ice at
its home Olympics.
The host nation is keen to put on a spectacular Winter Games but also wants
success in terms of medals.
Italian Olympic Committee president Luciano Buonfiglio has set a minimum target
of 19 medals at the Milan Cortina Games.
The committee will give medallists the same prize money as at the 2024 Summer
Olympics: 180,000 euros ($210,000) for gold, 90,000 euros ($105,000) for silver
and 60,000 euros ($70,000) for bronze.
Italy's aims have been hit by some of its best winter athletes suffering
serious injuries but here's a look at some of the Azzurri's top medal hopes:
Sofia Goggia --- Alpine skiing The 2018 Olympic champion has to be one of the favorites for the gold medal in the women's downhill --- if she stays injury free. Goggia is known for risking everything on the slopes, sometimes to her detriment as her career has been plagued by numerous injuries. One of those came less than a month before she attempted to defend her Olympic downhill gold medal in Beijing 2022. Not only did Goggia make it back in time from a partially torn cruciate ligament and a minor fracture in her leg, but she managed to win silver. Goggia has won the downhill World Cup title four times and placed third the past two seasons --- despite ending one campaign early and starting the next late after yet another injury. The 33-year-old has 27 World Cup victories, including a super-G in Val d'Isre this season. She is second only to Federica Brignone as the Italian female skier with the most wins. Brignone, 35, won the overall, downhill and giant slalom World Cup titles last season and was second in the super-G rankings. She would have been favorite for at least one medal at the Olympics but it is unclear whether she will compete as she has only just returned to the slopes after breaking multiple bones in her left leg in a crash in April.
Arianna Fontana --- short track Short track's most decorated skater is targeting more medals at what will be her second home Olympics. Fontana's first Olympics in 2006 were in Turin, where at 15 she became the youngest Italian to medal. Her bronze in the 3,000 meter relay was the start of a glittering Olympic career as Fontana has amassed 11 medals --- 2 gold, four silver and five bronze --- at five editions, becoming the Italian athlete with the most medals from the Winter Games. Not content with all that, the 35-year-old Fontana was aiming to also compete in the long-track speedskating at Milan Cortina but a recent injury appears to have ended that dream as she was unable to participate in races that decided the makeup of the Italian team.
Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini --- curling Before Beijing, Italy had never even won a curling medal, but Mosaner and Constantini romped to gold in the mixed doubles four years ago. They dominated the round-robin with a flawless record, beat Sweden 8-1 in the semifinals and capped a nearly perfect week with an 8-5 victory over Norway. Not bad for a nation that had no tradition to speak of in the sport they referred to as "bocce on ice" before being granted an obligatory spot in the 2006 Turin Olympics as the host. Mosaner and Constantini paired up together again at the 2025 world championships and another perfect round-robin performance set them on their way to another international triumph. The 26-year-old Constantini is from Cortina d'Ampezzo, where the curling competition will take place at the games.
Dorothea Wierer --- biathlon The veteran biathlete is another Italian with several Olympic medals to her name, but none of those are gold. Wierer would love to end that at these Olympics, where the biathlon competition will be held at her home track in Anterselva. She has taken home a bronze medal from each of the past three Olympics: in the mixed relay in Sochi 2014 and Pyeonchang 2018 and the sprint in Beijing 2022. The 35-year-old also has 12 world championship medals --- four gold, five silver and three bronze --- and is a two-time overall World Cup champion. Wierer is known for her fast and accurate shooting, some of the best on the World Cup circuit. She's not Italy's only medal hope in the sport, with Lisa Vitozzi and Tomasso Giacomel as other possible contenders.
Miro Tabanelli --- freestyle skiing Tabanelli had a breakout season last campaign. Not only did he record his first World Cup victory but he became the first skier to successfully land a 2340-degree jump in competition, earning him a gold medal in big air at the 2025 Winter X Games. The 21-year-old was looking forward to competing at his home Olympics alongside his younger sister Flora, who also had a breakout season --- with a Winter X Games gold medal as well as three World Cup victories on her way to winning the overall title in big air. However, Flora is at risk of missing out on the games after she tore an anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in November. ___ AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Sofia Goggia --- Alpine skiing The 2018 Olympic champion has to be one of the favorites for the gold medal in the women's downhill --- if she stays injury free. Goggia is known for risking everything on the slopes, sometimes to her detriment as her career has been plagued by numerous injuries. One of those came less than a month before she attempted to defend her Olympic downhill gold medal in Beijing 2022. Not only did Goggia make it back in time from a partially torn cruciate ligament and a minor fracture in her leg, but she managed to win silver. Goggia has won the downhill World Cup title four times and placed third the past two seasons --- despite ending one campaign early and starting the next late after yet another injury. The 33-year-old has 27 World Cup victories, including a super-G in Val d'Isre this season. She is second only to Federica Brignone as the Italian female skier with the most wins. Brignone, 35, won the overall, downhill and giant slalom World Cup titles last season and was second in the super-G rankings. She would have been favorite for at least one medal at the Olympics but it is unclear whether she will compete as she has only just returned to the slopes after breaking multiple bones in her left leg in a crash in April.
Arianna Fontana --- short track Short track's most decorated skater is targeting more medals at what will be her second home Olympics. Fontana's first Olympics in 2006 were in Turin, where at 15 she became the youngest Italian to medal. Her bronze in the 3,000 meter relay was the start of a glittering Olympic career as Fontana has amassed 11 medals --- 2 gold, four silver and five bronze --- at five editions, becoming the Italian athlete with the most medals from the Winter Games. Not content with all that, the 35-year-old Fontana was aiming to also compete in the long-track speedskating at Milan Cortina but a recent injury appears to have ended that dream as she was unable to participate in races that decided the makeup of the Italian team.
Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini --- curling Before Beijing, Italy had never even won a curling medal, but Mosaner and Constantini romped to gold in the mixed doubles four years ago. They dominated the round-robin with a flawless record, beat Sweden 8-1 in the semifinals and capped a nearly perfect week with an 8-5 victory over Norway. Not bad for a nation that had no tradition to speak of in the sport they referred to as "bocce on ice" before being granted an obligatory spot in the 2006 Turin Olympics as the host. Mosaner and Constantini paired up together again at the 2025 world championships and another perfect round-robin performance set them on their way to another international triumph. The 26-year-old Constantini is from Cortina d'Ampezzo, where the curling competition will take place at the games.
Dorothea Wierer --- biathlon The veteran biathlete is another Italian with several Olympic medals to her name, but none of those are gold. Wierer would love to end that at these Olympics, where the biathlon competition will be held at her home track in Anterselva. She has taken home a bronze medal from each of the past three Olympics: in the mixed relay in Sochi 2014 and Pyeonchang 2018 and the sprint in Beijing 2022. The 35-year-old also has 12 world championship medals --- four gold, five silver and three bronze --- and is a two-time overall World Cup champion. Wierer is known for her fast and accurate shooting, some of the best on the World Cup circuit. She's not Italy's only medal hope in the sport, with Lisa Vitozzi and Tomasso Giacomel as other possible contenders.
Miro Tabanelli --- freestyle skiing Tabanelli had a breakout season last campaign. Not only did he record his first World Cup victory but he became the first skier to successfully land a 2340-degree jump in competition, earning him a gold medal in big air at the 2025 Winter X Games. The 21-year-old was looking forward to competing at his home Olympics alongside his younger sister Flora, who also had a breakout season --- with a Winter X Games gold medal as well as three World Cup victories on her way to winning the overall title in big air. However, Flora is at risk of missing out on the games after she tore an anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in November. ___ AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
