Sigh of relief for Federica Brignone, Sofia Goggia also ready to go wild

Federica Brignone, Elena Curtoni, Sofia Goggia and Laura Pirovano: they are the Italians, in strict alphabetical order, who will take part Thursday in the super-G scheduled for the Winter Olympics in Cortina. This was communicated by Fisi, which has thus withdrawn the alarm about the presence of the Valle d’Aosta skier, who in April last year had been the victim of a very heavy injury: in the last training session she had felt discomfort in her knee again and there was even speculation that she might give up.

Aldo Seghedoni

There is of course great anticipation for the race, all the more so after the disappointment related to the men’s super-G, which saw the Azzurri run out of steam despite the fact that on the eve of the race the hopes of winning more medals were certainly not low. Those who thought they would see a fulfilled Franjo von Allmen giving space to rivals had to think again. After gold in the downhill and in the combined team event, the Swiss, who is going through an exceptional moment of form, pulled off another outstanding performance: he read the Bormio course to perfection, conquered the super-G and in five days put the third medal of the most precious metal around his neck.

The 24-year-old from Bern seemed unstoppable. With this success he also entered history: he equaled the record of three golds in the same edition by Sailer (1965) and Killy (1968), in their case all in individual races, and Kostelic (2002). By contrast, the high point that many expected from Marco Odermatt did not come. The Swiss champion finished third, 28 hundredths behind his compatriot. Silver went around the neck of American Ryan Cochran-Siegle, just 13 hundredths behind the winner. At the foot of the podium was France’s Nils Allegre, fourth at 31 hundredths, who started with bib number 1. Behind him was Austria’s Haaser, fifth at 57 hundredths, and Giovanni Franzoni, sixth with a gap of 63 hundredths.

“Too bad, I left a few tenths too many in the middle section,” explained Franzoni at the end of his run, “where I should perhaps have been more closed and less on the edges. I still have to grow on these details: in three out of four intermediates I was in line with Von Allmen. To be three tenths off the podium and to have lost six tenths in one sector hurts a bit. In these conditions I knew I was not the favorite, soft snow is not my favorite”.

“The goal now is to try to become complete as an athlete and able to adapt to all conditions,” he added. “Meanwhile, however, I have to take my hat off to Von Allmen: three golds at the first Olympics is truly incredible, a legendary week and he deserves it. He has been an inspiration to me over the years, I’m trying to learn from his skiing to get that fluidity that I lack a bit. The goal is just that, to improve in these conditions and then really I can play it all the time. The confidence is high and I still want to pick up something in the next races”.