The 30-year-old won downhill gold at Pyeongchang 2018, her first Games, and silver at Beijing 2022.

"I'm really excited to live my last Games in my own country," Goggia said.

The Bergamo skier has been set back by regular injuries, most recently in January less than a month before the start of Beijing 2022.

She suffered a knee injury in the Cortina d'Ampezzo World Cup super-G and immediately started physical rehab with the aim of returning in time to defend her title in China.

In January 2021 she also broke a bone in her right knee which forced her out of a home World Championships, also in Cortina.

"Last season has been one of the most draining from a mental point of view because I felt completely worn out," Goggia said, speaking to Olympics.com.

"When I resumed physiotherapy one week after the end of the World Cup season, I still felt unable to walk, especially up the stairs.

"When I was asked to jump on one leg, I was totally unable to perform such an effort.

"So I had to make a decision about surgery.

"In the end I opted for a conservative strategy: I had one month of physio, some holiday and then I started with the athletic preparation."

Goggia is hoping to be more consistent in future competitions leading up to Milan Cortina 2026, which is set to be the third time that Italy has hosted the Winter Olympics.

Cortina d'Ampezzo staged the event in 1956 before Turin played host 50 years later.

"I need to have the strength to continue on the right path with that consistency that I never had before," she said.

"In the past I was consistent in the first part of the season but not in the second.

"And this involves a personal commitment: I want to be like the dripping water wearing away the stone.

"Because I know how to dig my way through the rocks, but I do it like a river in flood and I want to become like a drop of water."