Blue tables, finally here we are. In Valmalenco off to the cup, Visintin and Sommariva to the assault

Snowboarding: All news

Valmalenco: All information

On Friday (10.45 am, then it will be the women's turn) the qualifications towards the first two races of the Snowboard Cross World Cup, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The eve of the two most anticipated Azzurri: we talked about it with them and with Godino and Ferrari.

Thursday 21 January 2021 9 minutes reading time

Finally here we are. The snowboard cross athletes had to wait until the penultimate weekend of January to finally begin their adventure in the World Cup, but that moment has arrived and Italy is hosting the first of the three currently "safe" events in a calendar revised several times and now with some fixed points, including the World Championships of Idre Fjall. The Azzurri will clearly be among the big favorites, in the appointment that Saturday and Sunday (finals from 13.30 in the first case, at 14.00 on the final day) will see Valmalenco host an inaugural stage expected as never before after all that has happened in these months. On Friday the qualifications towards the two individual races of the weekend, with the boys on the track from 10.45 and the women's sector from 13.20. Today the last training (under a heavy snowfall) for everyone, including the nine men of Cesare Pisoni who will go to the assault of the maximum result. Starting with Omar Visintin and Lorenzo Sommariva, leader of a very high quality national team (despite the absence of Emanuel Perathoner, who will lose the entire season), with Michele Godino, Filippo Ferrari, Matteo Menconi, Tommaso Leoni, Thomas Belingheri , Devin Castello and the very young (born 2003) Niccolò Colturi. Thanks to the press office of the Chiesa in Valmalenco stage and the collaboration of the Army Sports Center, of which the Azzurri are part, we lived with them such a special eve, after more than ten months without cup competitions and towards a appointment on a completely new track and with a clearly very strange atmosphere, not being able to be present the public. "I saw it for the first time yesterday and today it has been tested for over an hour, it is a very technical track that does not allow errors at the start, otherwise it is racy and that I really like - the first analysis by Omar Visintin, the lighthouse of the national team that also finished on the podium in the last race held last season in Veysonnaz, in addition to winning at Big White - The speed will be low with all this snow, but we will adapt. My condition? I had back pain, but now I am very well and above all we have prepared ourselves as a team for this opening; in reality we would have been ready even in mid-December, the original start date of the season, but no one will have any advantage or less than what happened. In the end we will be able to count on 5-6 races, including the World Championships, but I have always reasoned one race at a time even in a normal season ”. Lorenzo Sommariva played the World Cup in the 2019/2020 season until the final of the last match against Alessandro Haemmerle, in what was the year of his explosion with the first two victories. “The morale has always remained high and the performance in training at a level. My feelings on the track today were those of amazement and happiness, it is really nice to be able to compete again ”. And about the goals, the 27-year-old Genoese does not hide: "With such a compressed season, the idea is to always try and go to the maximum at each race - explains Lorenzo - If you ask me about the World Championships (scheduled in just three weeks ), I can say that the Swedish track suits my characteristics, it is mainly straight as we have seen with the ski cross (which stopped there this week, ed) and for smooth athletes. Nice news, I like being able to try something different. But now let's think about these two races in Valmalenco ... ”. And then there is Filippo Ferrari, one of the quality young people who are emerging in a constantly evolving and confronting group. “It is my second year in the World Cup, but this will be totally different from the first. Everything changes, starting with the anti Covid protocols, but what matters is that we have been training very well since the autumn and I think the team will be competitive at the highest levels. Of course, by competing at home the expectations are even higher, a pity only for the weather that will not be the best, but the organization is doing a huge job from every point of view, no one like them in Europe has managed to set up all this . My goal? Every year you are looking for something more, but in this case I can say that I have the ambition of hitting the pass for the World Cup, we will play the other two passes in these races in Valmalenco ”. And Michele Godino himself knows how much the challenges on Saturday and Sunday will be worth in terms of the world championship, since then there will be no more competitions until the Idre Fjall event: "There are no alternatives, we will play it here and who knows that it may also be valid to get on the podium in one of these two races. I'm fine, after being stopped due to a virus between November and December: I have recovered with the training of the last few weeks and I believe that, on a technical level, the start, which is really very technical, will be decisive in the qualifications. In the race, then, there will still be time and space for overtaking ”.

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