Nordic SkiingBeijing 2022
Getty Images
Sixth place paired with De Fabiani is not a disappointment, on the contrary the blue champion looks at the glass half full. "We worked well on various aspects, including the materials."
Wednesday 16 February 2022 5 minutes reading time
The feeling was that a medal was possible, especially after the disputed semifinal, but the decisive act of the Olympic sprint team in classic said otherwise.
Federico Pellegrino and Francesco De Fabiani, already from the penultimate fraction, ended up far from the goal of fighting with Norway and Russia, to which a fabulous silver Finland was added, to give the blue background the second medal after that conquered by the champion of Nus in the individual sprint.
“He did his best and there was no more than that in his legs - Pellegrino himself commented on physi.org after the race - A sixth place that is not a medal, but it is not even a tenth. We are there, not too far away, we will have to put ourselves cold to analyze how the race was, the sensations, the management of the last period and understand where there can be room for improvement. Even today the materials were a winning point, because we both had great skis, so let's exclude that factor and think about the rest.
The Olympics ends in a satisfactory way, practically the same as four years ago with a silver in the sprint, an eighth place in the relay and a sixth in the team sprint, even if in PyeongChang we were fifth but he was in free technique. All in all in line with expectations: I do not deny that today given our condition there was the idea of being able to dream of something bigger, but this is sport and you can't compete alone. Honor to those in front: the three medals, Sweden fourth and Canada fifth, with two very young guys who did well ”.
Francesco De Fabiani had to give in to the fury of Bolshunov, Niskanen and Valnes in his last stage: “It was a very tough race like everyone else here in Zhangjiakou. We tried to do our best, obviously there is a bit of disappointment because the possibility of a medal was there and we had all the credentials to get even further: but what we had in our legs we also gave it if that wasn't enough.
However, we are happy with the result even if we are sorry because we could have done better. Overall it was a pretty good Olympics with the best finish ever in skiathlon, I even came close to playing for the medal. From 15km I expected more, but the skiathlon was very hard, reaching the limit and I think it affected everything else. That tiredness remained in my legs and even today I didn't feel as good as before, but it's part of the game.
Cross-country skiing is a tough sport, especially here at high altitudes with slow snow and cold, the efforts add up and in the end even those who manage to recover more and always be competitive win. "
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Social media engagement
Più letti in Sport invernali
Tocca a Freddy continuare la striscia dei fratelli Carrick-Smith: prima vittoria in ANC per il britannico e per Amelia Smart
Australian New Zealand Cup 2026: a Coronet Peak si è tornati finalmente a gareggiare, con lo slalom maschile che vede il classe 2007, vice campione del mondo jr di specialità, precedere nettamente Meissl e Hagen. La specialista canadese anticipa Hoffmann e la solita Butler nella prova femminile. Ora i giganti.
16