Elena Fanchini

Elena Fanchini was an Italian alpine skier. She was the older sister of the Olympian Nadia and Sabrina, themselves top Alpine skiers. Elena was on the Italian national team from 2003, making her début in the European Cup on 23 January 2003 in Abetone in giant slalom. In February 2005, not yet 20-years-old, she surprisingly won the silver medal at the World Championships in Santa Caterina Valfurva behind Janica Kostelić and soon after would also win a silver and a bronze at the Youth World Championships. On 2 December of the same year Franchini won her first race in downhill in the World Cup in Lake Louise, Canada, and had to wait 10 years (December 2015) for a second victory in the same event in Cortina d’Ampezzo. A series of injuries prevented her from obtaining other significant results.

In January 2018 Elena revealed that she had intestinal cancer and her treatments prevented a fourth participation at the Olympics. While improving, she returned to skiing but, in November 2018, she fractured her fibula on a training descent at Copper Mountain. In April 2020, together with her sister, Nadia, she announced her farewell to skiing. In August 2022 the tumor recurred and she passed away in February 2023 at only 37.