Death of Matteo Franzoso, six teammates return to Italy

Six skiers from the Italian national alpine ski team, badly shaken by the death of Matteo Franzoso, have decided to cut short their gathering in Chile and return to Italy. This was reported by AGI’AGI, which learned this from sources in Italian skiing.

Franzoso, who was one day shy of his 26th birthday, died as a result of very serious injuries he sustained after crashing into a fence during downhill training on the Chilean snows of La Parva, Chile.

The six Azzurri are at the Santiago airport in Chile to return to Europe. The ‘senator’ of blue skiing Christof Innerhofer along with Benjamin Alliod, Nicolò Molteni, Marco Abbruzzese, Leonardo Rigamonti and Max Perathoner, are about to board an Air France flight bound for Paris from where they will fly to Milan.

In contrast, Dominik Paris, Mattia Casse and Florian Schieder are staying in Chile. Meanwhile, an autopsy has already been performed on the body of Matteo Franzoso. The body, completing all bureaucratic formalities, is expected to return to Italy no earlier than next Monday, after which a date will be set for the funeral. And in the Azzurri’s environment there are thoughts of canceling La Parva as a stop for summer training in South America.