Italian skiing mourns the passing of Carla Marchelli: she made history in the 1950s

Italian skiing mourns a great champion.

Carla Marchelli has passed away at the age of 91, leaving us one of the pioneers of the sport, not only in Italy but internationally, during the period before the birth of the World Cup.

Born in Genoa in 1935 but raised in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where her family had moved to escape the bombing during the Second World War, Marchelli established herself as one of the most versatile and eclectic skiers of her generation, writing historic pages beginning with an absolute world record over the course of one month, in January 1957, when she won every race and discipline of worldwide significance in which she took part: the SDS-Rennen in Grindelwald (downhill, giant slalom and slalom), the Arlberg-Kandahar in St. Anton in the queen of disciplines and once again in the slalom, and in Bad Gastein in the pre-World Championship events in all three disciplines.

At the World Championships held in the Austrian resort in 1958, she won a historic bronze medal in downhill, while her successes also included the 1956 Arlberg-Kandahar trophy in Sestriere, as well as her first major downhill victory.

Carla was not particularly fortunate at the Olympics. In front of her home crowd at the 1956 five-ring event in Cortina, she finished sixth in downhill after having her two casts removed from her ankles (both of which were broken) one week before the race. At Squaw Valley 1960, meanwhile, she was a leading figure in all the disciplines before choosing to retire from competitive skiing: 5th place in giant slalom, 6th in the combined, 9th in downhill and 15th in slalom.

On the national scene, she won 7 medals at the Italian Championships (and more than 60 victories overall on the Italian circuits). After ending her skiing career in 1960, Carla Marchelli expressed her eclecticism far beyond the world of Alpine slopes. Following her university studies and a period as a researcher at the Centre for Genetics and Biology in Naples—in addition to earning certificates for scuba diving and gliding—she successfully devoted herself to the figurative arts.

Working under the artistic pseudonym "Mani", she distinguished herself as a talented sculptor, shaping materials with the same determination and energy that had made her a champion of Italian skiing.