Tragic death of Matteo Franzoso, Kristian Ghedina shaken: "Skiing too fast"

Kristian Ghedina, a former ski champion and a specialist in fast races, was very shaken by the tragic death of Matteo Franzoso, the Italian skier who was the victim of a serious fall in training in La Parva, Chile.

“Impacting a wall or a tree can be deadly as early as 40-50 per’hour,” he said, speaking to Ansa. “In training, you can get as high as 120 km/h: eliminating the risk altogether is not possible, but something must be done”.

“If I were still doing downhill skiing today, I confess that I would never want the new skis changed, they give the adrenaline of speed: but the truth is that they are too fast, especially in turns. And it is time to change them” added Ghedina.

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At youth level, Franzoso had been fourth in downhill at the World Junior Championships in Narvik in 2020. He had made his European Cup debut on Dec. 13, 2017, and his first and only victory on the circuit was at the super-G on Nov. 29, 2021, in Zinal, Switzerland. In the same season, Franzoso had made his World Cup debut, on Dec. 17, in the superG in Val Gardena.

There are seventeen of his appearances on the major circuit (11 superG and 6 downhill), in which he recorded 28th place in the superG in Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 28, 2023 as his best result. Also in ’23 he had won the Italian title in the combined. His last Cup start was in the Norwegian races in Kvitfjell last March.