Industry News
The Italian ski racer Sofia Goggia has decided to skip the camp in Ushuaia, Argentina, in order to remove the plate from her leg. The Italian speed specialist has been struggling during her first training sessions with pain in her shin and, despite several efforts to pad the ski boots differently, was resigned to removing the plate seven months after her accident. Goggia had broken her right leg during training in early February this year on the Casola Nera run in the Ponte di Legno Tonale ski area in Italy.
The Italian ski racer thanked her doctors and nurses at La Madonnina Clinic in Milan in an Instagram story, in particular her surgeons, Dr. Riccardo Accetta, Dr. Andrea Panzeri, Dr. Herbert Schoenhuber, and Dr. Alberto Zangrillo. Dr. Panzeri and Dr. Accetta had also inserted the rod and seven screws to secure multiple fractures to her tibia and tibial malleolus. Plates are internal splints that hold broken pieces of bone together. They are typically removed after healing is complete but can also stay in place indefinitely. It typically takes six months for a fracture to heal completely.
Goggia had been struggling in her first few training runs back on the snow. The Italian ski racer returned to on-snow training at Passo dello Stelvio at the end of June, just a little more than four months after the accident. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in July, the two-time Olympian admitted to crying underneath her goggles on her first couple of turns. Goggia continued to be in pain at the sheath of the anterior tibial tendon. Goggia was growing increasingly frustrated as nothing seemed to help with the pain, which led to the decision to remove the plate in her right shin.
Nicknamed “The Queen of Speed,” Goggia is known for her resilience and determination, and the Italian ski racer has worked hard on her rehabilitation and return to competitive skiing. Hopefully, the removal of the plate will alleviate the pain. “I’m very happy to have taken this junk out of my leg. It created some irritation with the boot,” she said in the Instagram story. After a week of rest, the skier is planning on going back to training. It might not leave enough time for Goggia to be ready to compete at the 24/25 FIS Alpine World Cup, but the head coach of the Italian women’s ski team, Gianluca Rulfi, is prepared to skip the World Cup season and focus on the 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina instead.
