Sofia Goggia bent over on the leg that wouldn’t bend, and here, across the finish line that seemed uncrossable, she exploded. She saw a green light, evidence of an Olympic lead, and her brain went racing — back through three hellish weeks, to the Jan. 23 crash that ripped up her left knee and fractured her fibula, and seemingly shattered her dreams.

On Tuesday, 23 days later, she crossed a downhill finish line in first place, and unleashed a primal scream. She unleashed joy and pain and disbelief. Last month in Cortina, Italy, on her favorite downhill slope, her skis had split. At 58 miles per hour, she’d popped into the air, and flipped head over heels onto icy show. She partially tore her ACL, and sustained a minor fracture of her fibula, and the Beijing Games, to any sane mortal, seemed gone.