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Compagnoni Day: we relive the world championships played by Deborah, debutant in Morioka 1993 before closing in Vail. In the middle, three golds one more beautiful than the other.
Thursday 4 June 2020 7 minutes reading time
Years of waiting and twelve months to ... win everything.
The story of Deborah Compagnoni in the world championships can be summarized in this way, given that the first serious physical problems (right knee ko in 1988, intestinal blockage in 1990) had forced the champion of Santa Caterina Valfurva to skip both the World Cup in Vail in 1989 than those of Saalbach two years later.
The debut takes place in the gray Morioka, where it presents itself with a thousand unknowns after the Albertville crash; yet, on February 14, 1993, he took a 5th place in the super-g on the Japanese snows (Katja Seizinger triumphed over Sylvia Eder and Astrid Loedemel, 37 cents were left for Deborah for the medal) which bodes well for the rebirth, much less a month later he will return to win in the World Cup in Morzine, always in speed (his last success before dedicating himself in full or almost to giant and slalom).
However, the Valtellinese had to wait for the beauty of another three years to play a medal, with the Sierra Nevada world event moving for one year. The 1995/96 season will not be exciting, but on February 22 Debby finds the magic it takes to finally conquer the first world title, after the two Olympic games (always in even years, at least until then, style ... Tomb).
The giant on the Spanish snow, however, sees her in difficulty in the 1st heat: 4th place, 1 ”14 from Sonja Nef who precedes her compatriot Karin Roten, another very young woman who is flying, and Anita Wachter. Will the 2nd run staged by Deborah be enough? It seems not, even if the Austrian and then Roten end up behind him; when it comes to the Nef, all the pressure of the world falls on the shoulders of the rossocrociata, which slides into the right corner at the fourth door. Deborah recovered something important after a thousand sufferings, concluding with 35 cents on the Roten and 70 on Martina Ertl. Two days later he will come out in the 1st heat of the slalom dominated by Pernilla Wiber. A little bad.
Yes, because from there a sequence of fabulous successes will begin, the two best years of his career with the World Championships in Sestriere at the center. Of course, you can't exactly call it the home world championship, but the crowd that goes up to the Colle to push Compagnoni and Tomba, but also Ghedina and Kostner, is creepy. And then, on the night of February 5, 1997 it turns into one of the most beautiful performances of blue skiing: this time we start with the slalom, and Debby (who has gone down with the number 2) commands for her. When it's her turn in the 2nd round on the “Kandahar G.A. Agnelli ”, the possibility of a historic brace is looming, given that Lara Magoni is in the lead; there are 41 cents of margin on the teammate, but already after the initial wall the advantage rises above the second. It is total riot, Compagnoni oro and Magoni argento, 1 "27 away with Roten still in the medal, third with 1" 60 second.
A show of strength that will be repeated four days later in "his" giant; that day, the feeling is that Deborah doesn't push even 100%, she's just too much stronger than all the others. He dominates the first heat, controls in the second one starting from 73 cents ahead of the usual Roten and finishing with 8 tenths on the Swiss, while Leila Piccard takes the bronze at almost two seconds. It is February 9, 1997 and, at that moment, Deborah Compagnoni is simply the most loved and successful sportswoman in Italy and, probably, also worldwide in that year having signed a single brace.
In Vail 1999 he will end his adventure at the world level, with the 7th place in giant and the 8th in slalom, certainly no longer competitive as before due to the thousand conditioning that he receives from the physique, after all he had to endure . A month later the retirement, at the end of the giant of the World Cup finals in Sierra Nevada. With a smile, knowing that he has given everything.
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