So sad in Crans-Montana: some sponsors don’t care about mourning

How sad in Crans-Montana, where on Friday morning the downhill was suspended after three out of six competitors had fallen: a pair of them, Lindsey Vonn of the United States and Marte Monsen of Norway may have jeopardized their participation in the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics that will kick off on Feb. 6.

Aldo Seghedoni

“The Republic” which had a correspondent in the French Swiss resort, reported that many companies linked to the promotion of this ski World Cup stage did not take up the appeal of the international federation banning sponsor-related side events. Gazebos, promotional flags, free gadgets, music and product sales were seen at the finish.

FISI, which obviously did not organize the event, had been clear on Tuesday. “The local organizers and the international federation have decided to celebrate a minute of recollection before the start of the races, to cancel all side events and not to place advertisements at the edge of the track, focusing the whole event only on sports competitions. There will also be no activities in the fan zone, while daytime activities in the center of Crans-Montana and the city’s Curling Club will be canceled,” he had reported, speaking of respect towards the 40 dead and 116 injured in the Constellation nightclub fire on New Year’s Eve. Among the deceased were six Italian youths: Riccardo Minghetti, Chiara Costanzo, Giovanni Tamburi, Achille Barosi, Sofia Prosperi, and Emanuele Galeppini.

We were talking about two female athletes at risk for the Olympics. Vonn, suffering from her left knee, did not hold back tears while hugging her teammate Jacqueline Wiles: the outfielder seemed genuinely upset about what had happened. Marte Monsen lost grip at the’last corner and ended up in the nets sliding without a helmet to the finish line. It became necessary to use the toboggan to get her off the track.

“Conditions have changed, visibility is bound to worsen and was the main reason for the’cancellation. We do not want injuries in this sport, we do not want to take risks”: given the mala parade, Fis race director Peter Gerdol expressed himself as follows at the time of the suspension.

The race was cancelled.

Unfortunately none of the Azzurri had received one of the first six bibs, including Sofia Goggia and Federica Brignone, who was returning downhill for the first time after a miraculous comeback and months of struggling to respond, physically and mentally, to the tremendous injury last April.