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An extraordinary Valentina Margaglio is second in Altenberg in the fifth round of the Skeleton World Cup. The blue who only two weeks ago on this track had overturned, takes a great revenge on the difficult gut of Saxony, grabbing with full merit the second place which is equivalent to the best result ever of an Italian in the skeleton circuit.
Friday 17 December 2021 6 minutes reading time
The athlete from Casale Monferrato, as usual, printed two excellent starts, benefiting considerably in the upper part of the track and then thanks to good lines she managed to defend herself from the return of the opponents who were faster than the blue on the lead. In the second run Valentina even surpassed herself by printing the best time in the heats as in Igls2, overtaking the Russian Kanakina who preceded her in the standings and taking only 11 cents from the victory!
The standard bearer of the Fiamme Azzurre was in fact preceded on the podium only by the winner, the German Tina Hermann, who is almost always "subscriber" to the first position when competing in Altenberg.
Margaglio with today's performance demonstrates that she has reached a competitive maturity and an awareness in her own means that are projecting her into another dimension, and it is not excluded that the former brakeman and sprinter (in athletics) in the next four years can become the flagship athlete of this discipline where drive and athletic skills are leading the way.
A serious mistake made at the exit of turn two effectively compromised the performance of the other blue in the race, Alessia Crippa, who thus classified herself in twenty-fifth position.
In the morning, however, Martins Dukurs' first victory of the season came. The Latvian champion after playing a muted 2021 has returned to roar, climbing to the top step of the podium exactly twelve months after his last victory in the World Cup. The thirty-seven year old from Sigulda, after finishing the first descent in second position, definitely changed pace in the second heat setting the best lap time reference and beat the German Axel Jungk leader by 19 cents at the end of the first fraction. With this success, the first in the 2021 calendar year, the greatest skeletonist of any era thus grabs the 59th victory of his career and relaunches his quotations in an Olympic gold medal perspective, the only trophy missing from his incredible palmares.
Two-thirds male podium Made in Germany, with the third step being occupied by World Cup leader Christopher Grotheer who never came out of the top3 in these first five races of the season. Fourth place for Alexander Tretiakov who turned out to be the best of the Russian team who once again placed all three athletes at the start in the top 10, with Nikita Tregubov sixth and the young Semenov ninth. Great race for the Austrian Samuel Maier who climbed from ninth to fifth position with an amazing second heat which earned him the second part time.
Positive test for the blue colors, with Amedeo Bagnis and Mattia Gaspari who both finished in the first fifteen positions. The Vercelli-bearer of the Bob Club Cortina in particular obtained an excellent eighth time in the heats in the second descent which allowed him to close in 11th place which is equivalent to his best result of the season as well as his best career performance in the World Cup. Ampezzano Gaspari, on the other hand, finished in fifteenth position with a not particularly clean final heat that prevented him from defending the fourteenth place of the first round. With these good results, men's Italy is pursuing its path towards the qualification of two places at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games.
The Skeleton World Cup is now taking a weekend break for the holiday season. The next seasonal appointment is scheduled for the last one of the year (31 December ed) on the Sigulda track in Latvia.
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