Skeleton
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A new page of history was written today in Igls in Austria. The blue Valentina Margaglio climbed to the third step of the podium in the second round of the season, at the end of an extraordinary second heat that saw the Alessandria recover five positions.
Friday 26 November 2021 9 minutes reading time
The bearer of the Blue Flames was the authentic protagonist of today's final heat. Valentina, after scoring an excellent intermediate at the starting phase, was exceptional in being able to find excellent lines in the guided section, the one that had always penalized her until now, allowing her to print the best time in the heats and lay the foundations for an incredible comeback. The blue thus obtains his best result in the World Cup, but above all he gives Italy the first historic podium in the history of the Italian skeleton! An exceptional result if you consider that not later than a month ago the Piedmontese was forced to miss the pre-Olympic because of a broken foot.
A capital test but not at all unexpected, given that Valentina had flirted with the podium several times both last year and a week, but in each of the previous circumstances two solid heats and a bit of luck were missing, but this time Margaglio was perfect where he usually made mistakes and now with this fantastic podium the blue can look forward to the Olympic season with even more enthusiasm.
To precede the blue on the podium were the Russian Elena Nikitina and the Dutch Kimberley Bos, the same two who had occupied the first two positions in the first outing of the season. Nikitina proved once again unplayable in the dry heat, making the difference during the first descent thanks above all to the push, managing to close the practice for success already at the end of the first round. For the Russian comes the second consecutive victory, the 14th of her career and is a strong candidate in the role of dominatrix of the Olympic season.
A new page in the history of the Skeleton World Cup was also written in the men's skeleton, where for the first time three athletes climbed to the top step of the podium having all three set the same time to the hundredth after two heats. This curious result was established by the British Matt Weston, the Chinese Wenqiang Geng and the German Christopher Grotheer.
Beyond the ex-equo, which was quite exceptional in the skeleton, the curious aspect of today's race was how this incredible result matured, given that the three protagonists adopted a decidedly different behavior. Weston made the difference in the push phase, fundamental that on a short track like the Tyrolean one it assumes an important relevance for the final performance, while both Geng and Grotheer have made the cleanliness of the lines their workhorse, with in particular the German who accompanied by exceptional materials was able to recover in the final heat the 7 cents that separated him from the British, leader at the end of the first heat.
If at the level of race conduct the three winners of today expressed themselves on the track in different ways, what unites the three are a series of records that each of the three has achieved.
Weston, in fact, managed to conquer the first success of his career in the World Cup, he who until now boasted a second place as personal best obtained among other things on this track just over a year ago. The 24-year-old former Taekwondo athlete also brings the men's Great Britain back to the top step after almost 13 years from the last British achievement made by Kristan Bromley (Sankt Moritz 25-01-2008). Even more significant victory was that of Wenqiang Geng who gave China the first historic seal not only in the skeleton but more generally in the world of gut sports. Geng who, like the entire Chinese team, returned to tread the scenes of the Skeleton World Cup after missing the entire past season for Covid, today has really impressed and the feeling is that the twenty-six-year-old Asian at Beijing 2022 Games will be among the favorites in the fight for Five Circles medals. Success number 3 in the World Cup instead for Christopher Grotheer, the most titled among today's winners who in his own way, however, establishes a first time. The two-time world champion in fact, obtained his first victory in a competition context different from that of Altenberg, revealing a coldness and a mastery of the sled seen only in the last two world championship editions, probably facilitated by an apt choice of the set. up of the materials and also the result of the great experience gained over the last few seasons.
The twenty-nine year old German also takes the yellow bib as the leader of the general classification, on a day that marked a sort of fall of the Gods. Alexander Tretiakov, Martins Dukurs and Sugbin Yun all went through a series of counter-performances that saw them all place on the edge of the table. The Russian winner seven days ago on this track, finished in ninth position after having competed in a bad first descent, the Latvian champion, on the other hand, wanted to test a brand new sled in the race that turned out to be anything but fast making it slide downwards. '' eleventh place, the South Korean finally seemed a bit contracted in the push phase, fundamental where he has always been a great teacher, sinking into 13th position overall.
In the Italian home, good performance for Mattia Gaspari who, with two precise descents, managed to improve last week's times by conquering fifteenth place, paying a delay of just 80 cents from the podium. Good performance also for Amedeo Bagnis who finished in nineteenth position, still showing considerable room for improvement. Race absolutely to forget for Alexander Gassner, twenty-first, who did not even manage to qualify for the final run.
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