World Cup, Gianluca Rulfi bets on Sofia Goggia and the other three blue stars

World Alpine Ski Championships kick off Monday in Courchevel and Meribel

This is it. The Alpine Skiing World Championships in Courchevel (men’s) and Meribel (women’s) begin Monday. In the women’s field, Italy has four aces to play, namely Goggia, Brignone, Bassino and Curtoni. Technical director Rulfi has great confidence in the very strong group of Italian girls and throws down the gauntlet to Shiffrin.

“The strongest women’s team ever? Yes… They are the same girls from the Beijing Olympics, however, we have consolidated as a group also thanks to the maturity reached by Elena Curtoni. We have waned a bit in the giant slalom, a discipline in which in St. Moritz 2017 Sofia medaled and in which she now fails to engrave, but we look ahead and hope to go very strong in the fast disciplines. Then, we’ll see what happens in the technical trials,” her words to Corriere dello Sport. The opponent to beat is mainly one: “No doubt the opponent to beat will be Mikaela Shiffrin, fearsome in any context.”