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Alpine Skiinghistory

Seventy years today from the triumph of Zeno Col in the world descent of Aspen: when the champion becomes legend

February 18, 1950 will remain as a historic date for blue skiing and beyond. With that man from Abetone who invented the egg position ...

Tuesday 18 February 2020 7 minutes reading time

He was the pioneer of blue skiing and world speed in an absolute sense, the myth of the 1950s before Toni Sailer. Today is a special anniversary, because 70 years have passed since Aspen's triumph in the world free ascent of a great like Zeno ColÃ²: that day in Colorado, the champion who grew up at Abetone turned into legend, taking the third medal after the '' gold in giant and silver in slalom. Here is the text that Riccardo Crovetti elaborated to remember that special event in the history of skiing, linked to the man who invented the egg position. â€œAspen, 18 February 1950. A date that will enter the history of skiing not only nationally. It was the last day of competitions in the World Championships that until then had had only one great protagonist, Zeno ColÃ² who had won a giant gold medal and a silver one in the slalom race. Keep in mind that in this last competition a slight skid denied him the en plein for a few tenths of a second, without considering that the same was penalized by the flexible bamboo poles imposed by the FIS at the expense of those of wood more suitable for its skiing. Here he is again at the starting gate that Saturday morning kissed by the sun to take part in the downhill, his favorite discipline. He loved the speed that gave him emotions and adrenaline, the same that is captured in the statements he made regarding the race that saw him favorite: â€œI will do my best. I will then fly in front of everyone, at any cost, so after 32 fractures the thirty-third can happen â€. It was a word to position himself in front of everyone! His descent staged on the "Ruthie's Run" was a true masterpiece because it saw him dominate one of the most spectacular and risky races of all time. The track where there were once silver mines was very different from the European tracks and to most it seemed like an obstacle course. The fact says that compared to the previous world championships the two descents were scheduled last for the concrete fear that if played first because of the falls there would have been certain defections in the following races. On that 3700-meter course with a drop of 857 meters ColÃ² outperformed the competition of the other 57 contenders (10 of whom did not finish the race), maintaining an intelligent race conduct, especially in the initial stretch called "the dam" (the today's Lift 6) in which the narrowing track forced the competitors to make two demanding jumps. The blue masterfully faced the subsequent jump of the "Bell Mountain" and above all that of the stream channel (Spar Gulch) where in a training test he had fallen ruinously ending up in the middle of the bush (he was not the only athlete to fall during the tests, at least a dozen and among them someone was seriously injured). It was in those moments that he adopted the famous egg position with which he reached the point of greatest speed in the gully of the Niagara falls and then moderated it for the last jump (Shuss Gully) the most feared, facing all those roughness with lightness almost as not they existed. He crossed the finish line on top of Mill Street with the best time, 2''34 "4 ahead of a second by the Frenchman James Couttet and the Austrian Egon Schoepf. The American commentator paid homage by saying in Italian that he was the new world champion. Spectators and competitors all found themselves applauding yet another great affirmation by Zeno ColÃ² who was crowned the undisputed king of those world championships. That night after the celebrations, the Tuscan champion was carried in triumph through the streets of Aspen by the many sympathizers who sang "O sole mio". Although 70 years have passed, the memory of Zeno ColÃ² and his exploits has never died out on American soil. It is recent history that Abetone, the birthplace of the Tuscan champion, has twinned with Aspen, a "sister cities" strongly desired by both locations linked to him ".

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