Federica Brignone breaks Swiss supremacy
Lara Gut, second today, wins the SuperG Cup
Federica Brignone finds the perfect day and breaks Switzerland domination in Val di Fassa, giving herself as a present the sixteenth triumph of her careeer in World Cup, the first one of the season.
The thirty-year-old athlete from Val d'Aosta rediscovers how to perfectly ski in Super-G, the race that closes the three-day World Cup event in Passo San Pellegrino and matches Deborah Compagnoni's record of victories in the top international circuit. Her success makes today the perfect day for the whole Italian Ski team, with Elena Curtoni, Francesca Marsaglia and Marta Bassino far from podium only for a few hundredths, ranking rispectively fourth, fifth and sixth in final standings.
And, after the two downhill victories on Friday and Saturday, Lara Gut-Behrami finished second today at 59 hundredths from Federica Brignone. She nevertheless can celebrate the conquest of the Super-G crystal globe in advance, together with a widening of the gap in the overall standing. The Super-G and giant new world champion will get to the Lenzerheide finals with 187 points ahead of the Slovak Petra Vhlova (today only 32nd) and 335 from Michelle Gisin, third right ahead of Marta Bassino, fourth with 790 points.
Today the glory goes to Federica Brignone who finally redeems the disappointment of the last Cortina Championships, showing that she is still able to ski at her best, to draw perfect turns and to win. Her performance is perfect also on the sliding parts of the track, less congenial to her. She has made the difference in the most technical part of the slope, drawing ideal lines on the Muri del Poeta, where she recites her own ode to the skiing technique.
The gap inflicted, 59 hundredths, on the athlete of the moment, Lara Gut-Behrami, proves how great her trial has been today. The third position goes to Corinne Suter (SUI), behind by 72 hundredths, always on the podium in all the three Val di Fassa races.
Behind there is the rest of the Italian team. Elena Curtoni is fourth, just 6 hundredths from the top three, Francesca Marsaglia ranked fifth at 0"83 and Marta Bassino sixth at 0"86. This latter has scored excellent intermediate times for three quarters of the race but has lost all the advantage in the final stretch. A good overall result at home for the Italian team with also Roberta Melesi finishing in 18th position. Fortieth Teresa Runggaldier from Val Gardena, while Laura Pirovano from Trentino(eighth and fifth in the previous downhills) went off the track in the central stretch of the slope, like Nadia Delago and Federica Sosio did.
Two bad falls occured to the Norwegian Kajsa Vickhoff Lie and the Rosina Schneeberger, (AUT), causing a double interruption of the race.The two athletes were brought by the rescue helicopters of Aiut Alpin Dolomites and 118 to the Trento hospital, both with a tibia fibula fracture.
To them go all the best wishes to recover soon from all the other athletes who praise and thank at the same time the Organization headed by by Andrea Weiss, who proved to be up to the task and is now willing to go on with the work set in the last recent years. His goal is to try to find for Val di Fassa an increasingly larger space in the skiing international race calendar.
In this sense, the two European Cup races scheduled for the next few days also take on value. Val di Fassa and the La VolatA slope, in fact, will be protagonist again on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 March, with two Super-G races in the continental circuit.
The interviews
The winner Federica Brignone welcomed her success with great satisfaction. «Today I finally suceeded in bringing all the best I was doing in training also while racing.- she says - I was feeling well and in good shape, I was also having good sensations while skiing. But untill yesterday important results hadn’t come and this was becoming very frustrating to me as I was not able explain it to myself. At the beginning of the season, I got good placements even if I wasn’t skiing well. Recently it was happening right the opposite. Until yesterday. Succeeding in getting sixteen victories like Deborah Compagnoni is of great satisfaction for me. Nevertheless I must confess that I am not completely satisfied and that I do not believe that I’am at the end of my journey. I still have many dreams to accomplish and I won’t let poor results to influence me too much as it has been happening in this period. Living badly for less podiums is not worth it».
«These were three wonderful days of competition but also very hard to face in rapid succession. - explains Lara Gut-Behrami, ranked second today - Now I feel very tired and can't wait to rest for a few days to recharge the batteries. As for the Lenzerheide finals, anything could happen: the snow will change, athletes are all quite tired now and it’s hard to make any predictions. As far as I'm concerned I'll just try to ski at my best».
«I close this transfer to Val di Fassa with three podiums, a second and two third positions, - declares Corinne Suter - therefore I will remember it with great joy. I have found myself at ease on this track again today, the snow was perfect and I have felt excellent sensations. As for the two athletes injured today, I believe that both were skiing too aggressively on a track with excellent snow conditions».
«In the Super-G of the combined race at the Cortina World Championships I have made peace with this discipline - explains Elena Curtoni, ranked fourth today - I liked this race so much, because it has many turns and technical stretches, ideal track for all the Italian athletes. Today I have really enjoyed the race but I’m a little bit disappointed for the mistake I made that has costed me one of the first positions. We hope to come back to compete here».
«I wanted to leave Val di Fassa holding something in my hands, after two unsatisfaying downhill trainings and today I finally picked up some results. - says Francesca Marsaglia, fifth today - I’m a little bit disappointed for the podium missed for a few hundredths but I found this Super-G one of the funniest I have ever faced in my career».
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