St. Moritz welcomed the “queen” return of the snow star: Vonn finished 14th, but made it clear that she was still competitive. The Italians smile through gritted teeth.
And now who explains it to the skeptics than that girl who came down with bib number 31 is he “only” 40 years old? Lindsey Vonn was waiting for them all at the gate: Many had advised her to stay at home, but she didn't want to listen to anyone and 2,132 days after the last race of her career she showed up at the gate again, proving that she was still an athlete. And what an athlete: 14th at the finish line, 1″18 behind Cornelia Huetter, with a couple of notable intermediates (the second and the fourth) and two others in which he practically accumulated over a second of delay. But she, Lindsey, at the finish line she was happy as a child.
Goggia through gritted teeth: “Three podiums in three races, not bad, but…”
Not as happy Sofia Goggia, that even with the third place achieved on the Corviglia completed the “hat-trick” which saw her return to Beaver Creek first with a second place in descent, then with a victory in super-G. In short, all she needed was the third step of the podiumand he arrived punctually at the third race after the injury. “Clearly though I would have liked something more”the hot comment from the Bergamo native.
“St. Moritz it has this characteristic of being a track “tricks”, since it presents many waves, bumps e several blind spots. It's a difficult track to interpret, but today I don't think I supported it as I would have liked and should have done. I didn't ski well, I was a little more tense than usualcertainly more than the American races.
I didn't have much time to find the right grip on apparently easy, but always aggressive snow. Three podiums in the first three races after returning, however, aren't too bad. In short, it could have been worse, but not all donuts come with a hole.”.
Brignone is not happy, Curtoni and Pirovano smile
In the Italian team, in the quartet that monopolized the positions from third to sixth, he also found a place Federica Brignone, fifth absolute to one tenth century from Goggia and 43 cents from Huetter. “It certainly wasn't a perfect race on my part. I know I started out with the right attitude, but I didn't attack like I should have done. I didn't find the feeling with the doors, I always remained far from the corner. The truth is that right now I can't do what my head asks me to do. I made mistakes more in confidence than in techniqueperhaps because I lack a bit of determination in doing the right things at the right time.”
Elena Curtoniwho preceded her by one hundredth at the finish line, is in a completely different mood: “I am amused, this was a bit of a strange snow that was falling apart, and I have lost some support from time to time and I no longer trusted like I did at the top. I fought for the podium therebut that's okay because I know I'm on an important path, and I just have to stay there and think about improving day after day. To get back to your best you just need a little patience and a lot of work, but the trend is positive and these results help bring the goal closer. The injury is behind us, now the past doesn't matter and I only think about skiing and having fun”.
To close the blue quartet, one Laura Pirovano finally catching up with my teammates: “But who knows if one day I'll be able to take another step forwardthe decisive one to get on the podium”the blue girl asked herself. “As compared to Beaver Creek I have improved significantly, and this makes me look at the glass half full. Being close to so many Italians makes me happy and makes me understand that there is room for further growth.”
Cornelia Huetter enters the race for the crystal ball
In optics World Cup, the second victory of the season projects Cornelia Huetter among the authoritative candidates for final success. The Italians wasted a good opportunity to get on the launching pad: in the end they are the best in the general classification Sofia Goggia, who, net of the only three races in which he has taken part out of the eight played so far, has collected 240 points, 57 less than Camille Rast, which remains at the top.
Ten points above the Goggia it's right there Huetter, While Lara Gut-Beharmi he joined Sofia in fourth place (third remains Mikaela Shiffrin con 245, out indefinitely). Federica Brignone, who of the leading skiers is the most versatile of the group together with Good Behrami, she is sixth with 219 points, a legacy above all of her exit from the giant slalom Killington. Meanwhile tomorrow we will repeat on Corviglia: this time the Italians don't want to make mistakes.
