Alpine Skiingfaith 30 ... and praise
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Tuesday will be a special birthday for Federica Brignone, the first Italian skier to conquer the World Cup and with many records at hand. In the middle of his career, he will try again for the crystal ball, with the dreams of Cortina 2021 and Beijing 2022 waiting for her ...
Monday 13 July 2020 7 minutes reading time
Thirty years of pure ... Faith. Thirty years of a champion who rewrote the history of our Italian skiing and sport, the first Italian skier to conquer in over half a century of the World Cup life, that crystal ball that became reality on March 11 in a Are afternoon without races, in the midst of a pandemic that took away from Federica Brignone the chance to celebrate the most beautiful triumph on the podium.
On Tuesday, however, there will be a toast to a special birthday (although the real celebrations for the triumphs of last season are still postponed for obvious reasons), in the heart of his La Salle which has welcomed him back in the past few hours, returning from the holiday in Sardinia. Federica immediately went to work, as per her habit, because that coppone who represented the dream as a child, is still not enough; she will try again in the 2020/21 season, the one that will also lead her towards the world championship dreams of Cortina 2021, she who has a love and hate relationship with the world championships.
The approach was beautiful, with that silver medal in Garmisch in 2011 behind only Tina Maze in giant, then skipping Schladming 2013 and experiencing the disappointments of Beaver Creek 2015, Sankt Moritz 2017 (when she was fourth in giant) and Are 2019, always close to the podium in multiple disciplines.
A very important two-year period that awaits Faith, then thinking of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, where it will defend the bronze conquered in giant at PyeongChang 2018 but, in reality, it will go in search of something much bigger. Yes, because last season he gave us a stronger and more mature Brignone everywhere, from the descent to the combined one, as the technicians predicted that they already saw him get on a World Cup podium at only 19 years old, third in the giant of Aspen in November 2009, less than two years after his debut in the maximum circuit in Lienz, on December 28, 2007.
Yet, the adopted Aosta Valley (remember, was born in Milan on July 14, 1990) and now in all respects a symbol of that wonderful territory where she has lived since she was a child, was not the predestined to win first of all at a young level, quite the contrary. Faith has been able to grow step by step and without pressure, a decisive element in being able to give everything when it matters, or in the World Cup; anything but simple if you grow up in a family with skiing in your blood, but facilitated by the fact of having two parents with the intelligence to make them do a thousand sports activities, without the classic "nausea" of hyper training on the snow. A huge merit of mother Ninna Quario, one who wrote a good chapter in history before the family, winning four slalom in the CdM, and father Daniele Brignone, teacher and technician for many years.
Skiing in the blood, however, is also that of Davide, the brother who has been able to carve out a very important space alongside Federica, as a "special consultant" who has been able to instill serenity in recent years, after she herself got up with the first one, fundamental victory of Soelden (it was 24 October 2015) who had canceled a series of complicated seasons, also due to the injuries, which had followed the two world medals at junior level, the Olympic debut in Vancouver 2010 and the first successes as mentioned, with podiums in the cup and the silver medal from Garmisch.
If Federica is already in history, with three cups on the bulletin board (to the general one was added in 2020 the one so loved by the giant and the combined one), there are still many records to be signed, starting from that of the victories in races of World Cup for the women's national team, with Deborah Compagnoni only one length ahead (16 to 15).
The Valtellinese champion celebrated 50 years of an extraordinary life on 4 June, Fede still has much to give to Italian skiing. So, best wishes champion!
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