Italslalom ready to leave again from the Vinatzer lighthouse, but the "old ones" will continue until Beijing 2022

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The Val Gardena demonstrated, with a podium and three fourth places (including the World Championship), that he is now the point of reference for a team that will still be able to count on Moelgg, Gross and Razzoli for a year. Maurberger's return after the second stop is highly anticipated, but the other young people need to emerge soon: there is no shortage of names ...

Monday 22 March 2021 6 minutes reading time

Sunday ended a season that for the men's Italslalom was satisfactory only in part, or rather only thanks to the ascent, already sensed in the previous one with the podium in Zagreb, of Alex Vinatzer. The Val Gardena, who suffered a flood of criticism for the five consecutive "zero" in January before the slow recovery in Chamonix, from the World Championships in Cortina onwards has shown that he has found himself completely, now ready to play even his first victory, he who this year took home the podium in Campiglio (3rd) and three fourth places, from the first race in Badia to the last in Lenzerheide, passing precisely through the world slalom. He is the only blue in the fifteen and the real medal card thinking from a Beijing perspective, but the three veterans of the group led by Jacques Theolier (who has a contract until 2022) will also play a pass for the next Olympics. . Manfred Moelgg (class' '82), even if he has to completely dissolve the reserve, Giuliano Razzoli (''84) and Stefano Gross (' '86), will in fact also be there next season and still represent the backbone of the slalom team , they who still sail in the top 30 area, even if the Olympic champion has always remained on the border and, like the Fassa player, did not get the pass for the World Cup finals. The one who can have the biggest regrets, especially considering the race in Cortina, is “Sabo” Gross, who found the best condition with the passing of the races, but paid for the high bibs and a couple of crucial mistakes. Behind them, apart from Vinatzer, there is a need, however, to build that basic framework of 6-7 boys ready to compete constantly in the World Cup; this year we saw only in the first part Simon Maurberger, then forced to return under the knife and really expected at the start of the 2021/22 season, because what the ''95 class of the Ahrntal Valley had shown, precisely in tandem with Vinatzer , before getting injured in Chamonix, he had been very important. The future of Sala, Liberatore and the wild card Tonetti? They often played inside and outside the slalom team, between physical problems and technical choices (relative to the Bolzano player), with the Brianza player who at least found a good level in the European Cup, but we need to make a qualitative leap and, remembering that there are athletes like Hans Vaccari (who broke the crusader again in Flachau and will need time) and Hannes Zingerle himself, who can do well even in tight posts, it is on the very young that we must go. We are talking about Filippo Della Vite, who has a lot of quality even in slalom and is now on a permanent basis in the giant team, of Tobias Kastlunger who has already made his debut in the World Cup and was the best blue in the specialty ranking in the European Cup (tenth ), but also of guys who still have to face the maximum circuit, see Bendotti, Saccardi, Canins. Time passes and, after the veterans' last dance, it will be their turn too.

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