Alpine SkiingINTERVIEW
NeveItalia interview with the blue Marta Bassino.
Friday 31 January 2020 8 minutes reading time
Ski with lightness, ease and ease. Marta Bassino is now a guarantee in the blue team. Six times on the podium in the same season and in five different disciplines. Most importantly, he captured his first career World Cup victory in the Killington giant.
Marta Bassino told NeveItalia about her impressions and goals in this golden moment of her career.
You are one of the top athletes of the blue team. You are having a brilliant season, what has changed in you compared to past years?
Nothing has changed, it is a step of growth. Every year I grow a little and I have come to achieve these great results. Killington's victory made me really understand where I can go. I trained a lot this summer, I did a good athletic preparation. Clearly every year the workloads increase a little bit, however the preparation I carry out always remains on the same line.
In the giant of Killington you were in the lead in the first heat. In the second, you took home your first career victory. How important is the head in competitions?
The head counts a lot, I have become aware of it with time. It goes hand in hand with the physical. You have to know how to ski, but your head must work well, because if there is any insecurity, the results do not come and you do not go anywhere. Clearly with the results you acquire a lot of trust and a lot of awareness, but you have to know how to manage everything.
You are the first Italian athlete in history to have made a podium in the same season in 5 different disciplines: giant, super-G, downhill, combined and parallel giant.
It's a beautiful satisfaction for me. It does me so much honor and makes me even more proud of myself, because I always started from the giant who is my main discipline and then I always worked and trained for the other disciplines. So being able to get on the podium even in super-G and downhill was really a great satisfaction.
Do you like the parallel as a discipline?
I really like the parallel. I had already liked the parallel of Sant Moritz with slalom skis and even more that with giant skis in Sestriere because I'm more comfortable. I find it a fun discipline, perhaps because it is short but intense. There is a direct confrontation, you have your opponent right next to you and you race just to beat the athlete who is there next to you.
You are a multipurpose athlete, young and competitive in almost all disciplines. In the future, can we think about reasoning also in terms of the general world cup?
Maybe in a few years yes, but now I don't think much about it. I like to continue working race by race. Of course the general World Cup would be a great result. It takes a lot of perseverance, that perseverance that I had missed in the past two years and that I found again this season. You must always be present in the race and always be among the first to play it. To win a general World Cup it takes all this, you cannot afford to miss a race.
You climbed on the podium several times together with your partner Federica Brignone, also a great athlete. What kind of relationship do you have?
Yes, we have made many podiums together, not only this season, but also in past years. It's nice to get on the podium with her. We get along, we help each other. We always work together in training. Skiing is an individual sport, but we are such a strong team because we help each other.
In skiing, what are Federica Brignoni's strengths that you would like to "steal" from?
I've always admired what Federica manages to bring out in the race. Many times she does not ski as well in training as in the race. Ski less well. Instead in the race she pulls all the grit that allows her to always be ahead.
You have already climbed the podium 6 times this season. In addition to the victory in Killington and the hat-trick of Bansko, which of the podiums has excited you the most?
Yes, certainly the victory of Killington excited me a lot and the hat-trick in Bansko because it was my first downhill podium as it was the day after the superG podium. I was very excited about Lienz's second place, because the giant always gives me that little bit more. In the first heat I was only behind Mikaela Shiffrin and when in the second heat I crossed the finish line and I arrived first, I was very excited.
How would you like to end the season?
I would like to continue with this constancy and always be ahead. I know it's difficult, because the shape comes and goes, but I aim to always be among the first.
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