Johnson is the fastest in the second official training
Brignone the best of the Italian athletes
The American Breezy Johnson has set the best time in the second and last timed official training of the Downhill of Val di Fassa, the resort at its debut in the Fis Alpine Ski World Cup that will host two Downhill and a Super-G races on the La VolatA slope in Passo San Pellegrino, replacements of the races previously cancelled in Garmisch-Partnekirchen and in Yanqing in China.
With a second place in yesterday’s first training session, today the 25-year-old American athlete has confirmed to feel at ease with this technical track, booking also a place on the podium, in the day in which also Federica Brignone has done very good, ranking eighth, the best of the Italian team, with a delay of 0”80 from the American.
Breezy Johnson, who has already collected four third places in the Fis Alpine Ski World Cup this year, will be certainly chasing her first success in the top international circuit, mainly thanks to the good sensations she has experienced in these two training sessions. In fact the American skier has considerably lowered the time set yesterday by Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (1’25"14), with the time of 1’24"77. Behind her, Ramona Siebenhofer (Austria) at 23 hundredths and Marie-Michèle Gagnon (Canada) at 26 hundredths, other two expected protagonists of the week-end races, followed by the downhill world vice-champion Kira Weidle (Germany) fourth at 0"46.
The world champion Corinne Suter (Switzerland) ranked tenth with a delay of 0"89 while her teammate Lara Gut-Behrami was able to do a bit better, still on the way to win the overall Ski World Cup. The Cortina Super-G gold medal winner, bronze medal also in Downhill at the recent Fis Alpine Ski World Championships, ranked sixth at 0"74, preceding by a few hundredths the Norwegian Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (the best one in yesterday’s first training session) and Federica Brignone who has proved to be very competitive on this Val di Fassa technical track and in speed races, in general.
Taking a look at the other Italian athletes, Elena Curtoni was twelfth at 1”01 and Nadia Delago fourteenth. The 23-year-old from Val Gardena, fourth yesterday, set the best time in the upper part of the track but made a mistake at the beginning of the wall in the second part. The Italian athlete from South Tyrol, who got a victory and a second place in the Fis Alpine Ski European Cup in January 2019, has nevertheless shown to have found the right set-up, aspiring to a prestigious result on the snow of Passo San Pellegrino.
Francesca Marsaglia ranked eighteenth at 1"50, Laura Pirovano twenty-sixth at 1"76, Elena Dolmen thirty-fifth, Federica Sosio thirty-seventh, Roberta Melesi thirty-eighth and Marta Bassino thirty-ninth, Teresa Runggaldier forty-fourth, all of them with a time gap not higher than two seconds.
Tomorrow, on Friday 26 February, the first of the two downhill races is scheduled, starting at 11.45 a.m., live TV on Raisport and Eurosport, and points determinant will be assigned to award both the overall Fis Alpine Ski World Cup and the Downhill one, this latter currently still in the hands of Sofia Goggia (480 points), followed in the standings by Corinne Suter (Switzerland) with 285 points and the American Breezy Johnson (270 points).
The Val di Fassa Ski World Cup races live on 16
international Tv channels, from the United States to Asia
The three-day event of the Val di Fassa Fis Ski World Cup, at its debut in the top international circuit, will represent an important promotional opportunity for the whole resort gaining top level media visibility all over the world. Sixteen international Tv channels will broadcast live the races scheduled on the snow of Passo San Pellegrino, with broacasters from different countries and continents such as Austria (Orf), Canada (Cbc), China (Cctv), Czech Republic (Czech TV), Europe (Eurosport), Germany (Ard), Italy (Rai), Norway (Nrk), Slovakia (Rtvs) , Slovenia (Rtv Slovenia), Sweden (Svt), Switzerland (Srf, Rsi, Rts, in German, Italian and French), United States (Nbc) and Asia (Eurosport).
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