Alpine Skiingthe interview
Eight years after conquering the crystal ball with Tina Maze, Livio took the Slovakian to the top of the world: "The hardest moment in Kranjska Gora, I'll explain why the controversy on the calendar makes little sense. Liensberger skies in a different way from all the others. the others: he can win every slalom. Next season we will look for an Olympic medal but Petra, seeing Gustavo Thoeni's trophies in her hotel, understood that the World Cup is the best. "
Sunday 21 March 2021 12 minutes reading time
He arrived in Bergamo in the evening, returning from the last long journey of an exhausting season, in some ways crazy, but which gave him the greatest joy.
In the Petra Vlhova World Cup there is the hand, the professionalism, the passion and the organization of Livio Magoni, as well as obviously of all the people at work with the Bergamo coach and the Slovak champion who today in Lenzerheide has the most important crystal ball raised to the sky. From Matej Gemza to Gigi Parravicini, from Matteo Baldissarutti to Boris Vlha, Petra's brother included in Team Vlhova throughout the winter, a small team was able to beat everyone, with a project that came to crown a dream after five seasons.
We talked about it this evening in an intense chat with Magoni himself, who was able to hug his family for a few hours, before leaving for Slovakia as the journey is far from over. “Well yes, by Wednesday we will be back there, with Petra busy between Monday and Tuesday for all the tests necessary to do a real“ review ”, before returning to the track from Thursday to Sunday in Jasna.
I haven't enjoyed what happened yet, but today I realized what happened when I saw that cup pulled out of the box and then raised to the sky. I told myself that we made it, even if in reality I wasn't too happy with the last two races which I didn't like at all. Petra was unloaded, we would have liked to honor the cup today in giant ".
Those who know him know well that Magoni is a perfectionist and even in success he always finds a way to improve in his daily work and make his athlete grow, as well as the whole team. To those who talk about a cup won thanks to the cancellations of recent days for the fast races in Lenzerheide, the coach from Selvino responds with a much deeper analysis. "I was there when the rules of the finals were changed and I can tell you that the change (ie the impossibility of moving the date of the races in the last World Cup act) was necessary because the risk of choosing the races to recover based on more or less favorable situations was concrete.
This year at the finals we were particularly unlucky in terms of weather, while the discourse relating to the disparity of tests between the various disciplines, I simply think that it is a duty to plan on the basis of the races we have in the calendar given that, Covid aside, the we already know for the next 4 years. I bring you the example of the comparison between Vlhova and Gut-Behrami: we knew we had to grow in speed and we managed it in a couple of seasons, Lara can do slalom like many other athletes engaged in all specialties or almost. And at the same time, we had already calculated that it would be tough for us until the triptych at Passo San Pellegrino, since we didn't have slalom for two months (from Flachau on January 12 until the Jasna weekend of March 6-7) .
We adapted and worked ”.
In December, when Petra was already leading the cup by a good margin, which rival did you consider the most dangerous?
“I was afraid of Mikaela (Shiffrin, ed). Not so much for a possible return to speed, but because training only between giant and slalom, after Flachau (where the American won) I thought she could return to her level, the one in which she does not give you anything and takes home 100 points at each race. She too, on the other hand, struggled more than expected ".
You talked about some programming errors, having chosen to participate in all the descents as well. Will you change anything for next season?
“Yes, we will definitely do the super-g, but we will dedicate ourselves to the descent only before the Olympics to train in a combined five-circle perspective. In fact, in Beijing we want a medal, of any metal, since Slovakia has never won one. The World Cup, however, remains the top and now even Petra has understood it ... ”.
Or?
“Coming back from the Stelvio, he told me that seeing Gustavo Thoeni's crystal balls many times, inside his hotel in Trafoi, he understood what it means to fight for the general, how much work is behind it. It's not a one-day race, it's just another thing ”.
Livio, can you tell us the story of Jasna's broken teeth and in what conditions Petra ran the following races in Val di Fassa?
“It was the first day of training on the track that would later host the cup races and, in the second test, Petra slipped on the inside. Impacting with the pole, the handle of the stick hit her in the mouth, bending the three incisors of the lower arch. We immediately went to the hospital, where fortunately the doctor who has been following her for years was present: she put her teeth back in line with an iron, which she then lost in the first descent on Friday. He suffered from the cold in those days, now he will make a more thorough visit to settle the situation definitively ”.
The hardest moment of the season, as Petra confessed, was the January giants?
"We had planned to drop a bit 'of condition, not having more slalom until March, but in Kranjska Gora it was a blow because seeing that ice and how it was skiing in the previous days, we were practically certain that the victory would be played. in those two giants. She didn't find the feeling and went haywire, it was also a mental issue and not just a technical or physical one ”.
You brought Tina Maze to win the cup with the record of points (2414 in the 2012/13 season, ed), but how different was that story compared to Team Vlhova?
“The construction of the team is comparable, but we are talking about two very different athletes. Tina was already a high level giant and slalom skier, then she became a great downhill skier. Petra, on the other hand, was a pure slalomist, the culture in Slovakia was just that. We have worked hard on it and I can tell you that every member of the team is crucial. Petra and Italian? Eh ... we are still in a bad way on that front, we communicate in English and Slovak, myself with Matej (Gemza, ed) if I can, I will provide you with information in his language, because it makes you feel calmer and receives better ”.
Will the project go as far as Beijing as planned?
“The deal is that, but something will change in the staff. She has to rest and understand her motivations and how to work for the future, we will meet next week to plan and define ”.
Tell us the truth, now Katharina Liensberger is also superior to Vlhova and Shiffrin in slalom?
“Yes, now it's the best in the world. Beyond what we see in the race, and the gaps speak for themselves, I remember that just over a year ago we trained together for five days in Hintertux; he made crazy lines, he just skied differently. He has another idea of the curved entry, but now he manages to do it for the arc of an entire slalom and is never wrong. I study her a lot on the video and I feel like she can win all the slaloms in one season. Shiffrin herself, who has always been the reference in recent years, has hardly changed anything since 2015-2016, but now Liensberger makes a difference on all of them ”.
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