After winning a women’s World Cup super-G
Sam Shields Jersey , Federica Brignone dedicated her victory to Italian teammate Elena Fanchini on Saturday.
The 32-year-old Fanchini had to end her season because of a tumor, forcing her out of her fourth Olympics in Pyeongchang next month.
”She is always with us, she is missing. For sure, we are all upset. This (win) was for her,” said Brignone, adding she hoped her triumph ”can help Elena
to recover better.”
In the penultimate super-G before the Olympics, Brignone timed 1 minute, 9.80 seconds on the Karnten-Franz Klammer course and denied then-leader Lara Gut her
first win of the season, beating the Swiss former overall champion by 0.18.
Cornelia Huetter of Austria was 0.46 behind in third.
Nadia Fanchini, Elena’s younger sister, trailed Brignone by 0.98 in fifth for her best result of the season.
Lindsey Vonn finished 1.43 off the lead in ninth place, a day after the American standout was considering skipping the race to avoid the risk of getting
injured on the partly weakened course. However, snow conditions vastly improved
after a cold night.
”As soon as I saw the course at inspection this morning, I knew I was going to run,” said Vonn
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”For me that is a dangerous situation because I don’t have any stability then on my knee,” Vonn said. ”If it’s bumpy it’s not a problem. As long as the
surface is holding and solid, it’s fine.”
Vonn badly injured her right knee skiing in soft snow at the 2013 world championships in Austria, and ultimately missed the Sochi Olympics the following
year.
Wearing bib No. 2, Vonn briefly led Saturday’s race but knew she was not in contention for her 79th career victory.
”On the bottom I wasn’t as aggressive I should have been. I was a little bit too conservative,” she said. ”It’s kind of funny because I skied the harder
sections better and then the easier sections worse.”
Vonn didn’t match Brignone’s skiing, who found the right line to master some tricky turns in the course.
”It’s really bumpy, and then it’s going really straight in some parts,” Brignone said.
It was the Italian’s seventh career win, and second of the season after triumphing in a giant slalom in Lienz, Austria, last month.
Brignone became the fifth different winner of five super-G races this season.
Still aiming for her first win after coming back from knee surgery, Gut used a strong run to take an early lead in the race.
Brignone trailed by 0.08 at the last split time but made up two-tenths on the Swiss to grab the win.
”To me it’s important to show in races what I can do,” Gut said. ”I was determined to start January well and I have done that.”
Hungarian skier Edit Miklos crashed when her skis crossed shortly before finishing, and was brought to hospital with ”a possibly severe knee
injury
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A year ago, Miklos was airlifted off the hill with a right-knee injury after crashing in a downhill training run at another Austrian resort, Zauchensee.
The race was rescheduled from Sunday after organizers swapped it with the downhill. The mandatory downhill training run will be held Sunday morning, two
hours before the race.
If he stays healthy.Those words have shadowed Sam Bradford through most of his injury-plagued eight seasons in the NFL.
And it looms large again as the 30-year-old quarterback went through the first practice of Arizona Cardinals training camp Saturday.
”I think you have to be optimistic,” he said. ”I think if you’re not optimistic, then the odds of staying healthy and the odds of playing well,
they’re probably not that great.”
Injuries have limited Bradford to 80 games in his eight seasons. He’s twice torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and another left knee
injury wiped out nearly all of his 2017 season in Minnesota.
When the Cardinals found themselves without any quarterbacks following the retirement of Carson Palmer, they turned to Bradford, who – when healthy – has
put up strong numbers.
But Arizona also pulled off a deal that got them Josh Rosen in the draft, and Rosen has been impressive in offseason workouts. But for now, this is Bradford’s
team.
”I want Josh with the mentality that he wants to start,” first-year Cardinals coach Steve Wilks said. ”I don’t waver that Sam is our starter. It’s his job to
lose and competition makes us better across the board.”
The Cardinals brought Bradford along slowly in the offseason and didn’t make him a full participant in workouts until the three-day mandatory minicamp.
”His knee, talking to him, is stronger than it’s ever been
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just with the training staff, physical therapy, strength and conditioning.”
Bradford would say only that his knee feels the best it has since the injury.
”I feel good right now,” he said. ”My body’s’ in a good place and I think now we’ll see the benefits of the plan we had throughout OTAs and throughout the
spring.”
Bradford signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Cardinals, with $15 million guaranteed. But this is about more than money for Bradford, whose career
earnings are listed at $124 million. He signed the largest rookie deal in
history as the No. 1 overall pick in 2010, a contract that guaranteed him $50
million before he threw a pass.
The next season, rookie contracts were slotted at lower levels as part of the new labor agreement.
So what keeps Bradford going, rehab after grueling rehab?
”Just getting back out there and playing football,” he said. ”I think you just realize how much you enjoy it, how special it is to be out there, to play
the game. That’s really why I do this, why I continue to come back
Leonard Fournette Jersey , it’s to be there on Sundays and to be out there with my guys and play football again.”
Bradford’s love of the game is clear to Wilks.
”That’s what you see,” the coach said. ”He’s made enough money that he’s taken care of his family for the rest of his life. But his passion and love for
the game and wanting to compete – and I think he has a lot doubters out
there.”
When he can play, Bradford plays well.
The only full game he played a year ago – Minnesota’s season opener against New Orleans – he completed 27 of 32 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns
with no interceptions. In his 15 starts with the Vikings in 2016, Bradford
completed 72 percent of his passes for a career-high 3,877 yards and 20
touchdowns with five interceptions.
Since the end of OTAs, he’s kept up individual workouts, simulating quarterback moves as he works to further strengthen his knee. Bradford
understands that injuries come with his line of work.
”They happen. It’s football,” he said. ”That’s not really where my mind is. It’s not something I think about. My mindset is just going out to practice every
day, learning as much about this offense as I can, being a good teammate, being
a good leader, being as good a quarterback as I can be.”
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