CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Federica Brignone was taking in the magnitude of winning a second gold of her home Winter Olympics when the two silver-medalists approached the Italian skiing star in the finish area, dropped to their knees and bowed toward her.Call her the Queen of the Dolomites.The 35-year-old Brignone couldn’t walk for three months early last year. Now she is a double Olympic champion after winning the giant slalom on Sunday, barely 72 hours after powering to the downhill title that she felt was like something out of a Hollywood movie.She delivered quite the sequel, taking a lead of 0.34 seconds after the first run and then putting in a clean second run in gorgeous conditions in the Dolomite Mountains above Cortina.Brignone finished 0.62 seconds ahead of defending champion Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund, who shared the silver medal.“That was, like, the greatest show of GS skiing that we’ve had in a really long time,” said U.S. standout Mikaela Shiffrin, who finished in 11th place. “And to do it, you know, at the Olympics where people actually have eyes on the sport. Federica skied incredible. That was so cool to watch.”It wasn’t quite so enjoyable for Shiffrin.The American didn’t have the speed of Brignone or a number of her rivals in either run and ended 0.92 seconds off the lead. She has now failed to win a medal in eight straight Olympic races since the Winter Games in 2018.Popular ReadsRedemption for Shiffrin could come in her best event — the slalom …
