Paul De Chiesa issues a new warning: "Skiing very risky because of materials".

Paolo De Chiesa has his say in no uncertain terms about the world of skiing: the tragic deaths in training of Matilde Lorenzi (in 2024) and Matteo Franzoso (in 2025) represent the extreme, terrible consequence of a system that should have slowed down and rethought itself, putting the athletes’ safety first. The journalist from Saluzzo, a former member of the ‘Valanga Azzurra’ and today the voice of RAI, spoke at the Chiesa dei Battuti in Fossano, together with Matilde’s parents, Adolfo Lorenzi and Elena Rosa Cardinale, creators of the Foundation established in her memory.

Having always been a great connoisseur of the ‘White Circus,’ De Chiesa strongly reiterated the need for a culture of safety for athletes, coaches and organizers. While Alpine skiing in itself is not without dangers, advances in technology and materials have made it essential to reflect. “Nowadays – De Chiesa reflected – skiing has become very risky because of materials”.

“They have these sudden offsets so they become unmanageable and you can’t recover from the ‘edge’: they are too aggressive,” he added. It can happen to anyone, on any slope. We must, therefore, pay extreme attention to the characteristics of the tracks, the presence of nets along the edges and the presence of obstacles. After these two unspeakable tragedies, finally, the Italian Federation has started talking about homologation of training tracks. Open heavens! Many ski clubs have protested that kids will not be able to train as before. There is too much exaltation in the youth sector”.

“There was finally a cry of alarm from many champions, such as Ghedina and Klammer: ‘These materials are too dangerous. It needs to be reversed. Let’s look at what has happened on the women’s side: Bassino, Brignone, Gisin, Olympic champion Suter, Macuga… All injured. A mothballing that has to be stopped, for the good of skiing. I hope we want to go all the way” added the former skier.