Lisa Vittozzi one step away from the World Cup

Lisa Vittozzi, victory

Day to remember for Lisa Vittozzi in the women’s sprint in Canmore (Can) that opened the last and decisive stage of the World Cup. The Sappada native provided another great show of strength of an unforgettable season, churning out probably the best race of her career over this distance (for a total of 79/80 in the eight sprints held between cup and World Cup), imposing herself with a time of 19’38″2 thanks to a flawless performance on the polygon, where she signed a fundamental zero for her overall ranking ambitions, supported magnificently by the performance on skis.

Lisa (in her sixth World Cup success in individual races) took full advantage of the simultaneous opaque day of Ingrid Tandrevold, the leader of the overall standings, who made two mistakes, finishing as high as seventeenth over 1′ from the winner. With this result, the Italian, still second in the ranking, significantly reduces her delay from the Norwegian, reducing it to just 7 points: 988 versus 981, when the pursuit on Saturday 16 and the mass start on Sunday, March 17, are missing: it will be a truly gripping finale.

Tandrevold consoled herself by winning the specialty cup in front of Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (eighth on the occasion), with Vittozzi third, while the day’s podium è was completed by the other Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot, second at 5″5 behind, and Switzerland’s Lena Haecki-Gross, third at 8″6. The performance of the rest of the blue patrol was also good: Samuela Comola finished 13th without errors, Beatrice Trabucchi 21st without errors, Michela Carrara 27th with two errors, Rebecca Passler 52nd with two errors and Hanna Auchentaller 54th with three errors: all qualified for the pursuit. Friday, March 15 will be the men’s sprint with Tommaso Giacomel, Didier Bionaz, Lukas Hofer, Elia Zeni and Patrick Braunhofer.