Alpine Skiingwomen's world cup
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On 11 March 2020 the official status of the crystal ball conquered by the Aosta Valley arrived, when in full pandemic the FIS blocked everything on the eve of the Swedish races. A strange and in some ways absurd day, but one that will remain in the history of blue skiing.
Thursday 11 March 2021 5 minutes reading time
A year later, from a Federica Brignone who won the trio of crystal balls, on all that general World Cup that in over half a century of history no Italian woman had ever brought home, to a ... a season finale, with the poker of competitions at the Lenzerheide finals, where the Aosta Valley will try to get the second success of a year certainly much less satisfactory than the previous one, but still seasoned by five podiums and a victory in the super-g in Val di Fassa which has shown, after the Cortina World Cup without medals, that Italsci can count on the one who, triumphing on the "La VolatA" slope of Passo San Pellegrino, has reached Deborah Compagnoni at the top of the multiple victors in cup competitions at an altitude of 16.
That 11 March 2020 was a decidedly strange afternoon in Are, where Brignone and Bassino had already arrived a few days ago, given that the fear of not even being able to leave Italy in full pandemic, to face what should have been the last three races of the 2019/2020 World Cup, it was very concrete. Discovering that you have crowned your lifelong dream while having a snack, when Gianluca Rulfi and the blue staff informed you that parallel slalom, giant slalom and slalom on the Swedish snow would not have been staged since the FIS had decided to postpone everyone at home after a positivity emerged in the "bubble" (at the time, in reality, this term did not even exist) of the white circus, it was absurd and also heavy for Federica, who confessed to having paid psychologically for that way of winning the cup of his dreams, which he had largely deserved on the track.
There are those who speak of luck for that undertaking, considering what happened to Mikaela Shiffrin who missed the last month of competitions after the tragic death of dad Jeff, but the truth is that the blue's performance in that golden season was of an absolute level, just think that while canceling the last ten races on the calendar (combined of La Thuile, the two technical races of Ofterschwang, the triptych of Are and the finals of Cortina), Brignone has concluded with 1378 points to the assets, demonstrating a potential (at least) from 1700-1800 points, where very few have arrived in history.
A year later, it is again time for the eve of competitions in Are (not for Federica, at home to train) but in a totally different climate, between tampons, safety and a huge job done to ensure that even sport can coexist with the pandemic and that the season will end regularly, next week in Lenzerheide.
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