Double silver in giant for Italy at the Beijing Paralympics. Giacomo Bertagnolli and Andrea Ravelli began the work, at their third medal on the snows of Yanqing: after the silver in super-G and gold in super-combined, here is the second place in the giant Vision Impaired (athletes with visual disabilities). This is the seventh pearl of the Games for Giacomo, if we add the four won in 2018 together with Fabrizio Casal.
In the lead after the first heat, the tandem of the Fiamme Gialle surrendered only to the Austrian couple formed by Johannes Aigner (1’49 “34) and his guide Matteo Fleischmann, who led the Azzurri by 1” 68. “I’m a little sorry because I was aiming for gold. You can’t always want everything, we will take this as a great lesson for the future, because it means that we did something wrong in the second heat and something they did better. However, it is a silver medal and it is the third medal in the last three races, so it’s not bad, but I want to take this title back ». Appointment already launched in four years on the snow of Milan Cortina.
“This silver makes us understand that in order to keep up we will have to give it our all”, confirms the guide Ravelli. «And in any case the slalom is still missing», Bertagnolli adds, thinking about the last effort on the snows of Yanqing scheduled for Sunday.
Pure joy, however, for Renè De Silvestro, who a little less than two hours later has centered the place of honor among the Sittings (athletes who ski seated). Between the 25-year-old from Pieve di Cadore and the snow there is an inseparable bond that could not even affect the terrible accident during the warm-up of a Fis Junior race, on 22 December 2013 in Alleghe. A little more than eight years later, Renè barely holds back tears of joy after darting on the mono-ski towards the first podium at the Games of her career after her absolute debut four years ago in PyeongChang. It is the real consecration after the gold in super-combined and the bronze in super-G last January at the Lillehammer World Championships, where however a positivity at Covid on the same evening as the supercombi triumph had stopped him before he took to the track in the giant and in the slalom.
Third after the first heat, the ace of the Sci Club Drusciè (1’57 “50) climbed another position in the second, also taking advantage of the Dutch Jeroen Kampschreur’s off-piste (provisional second) and closed only at shoulders of the Norwegian legend Jesper Pedersen (1’54 “20). These are the words of De Silvestro: «It is an indescribable emotion, because after the first heat I was angry and disappointed with a mistake. I tried to give my all, while trying not to risk too much, even to make up for this race that I hadn’t been able to do for Covid in Lillehammer (in the January World Cup; ed). I felt sorry for Jeroen because I admire him, but I am very happy for me and I dedicate him to all those who believed in him. Finally, the medal has arrived, we can say it: now there is the slalom, in which I could surprise you again ».
Italy thus rises to four in the medal table with 1 gold and 3 silver, one gem less than the five won four years ago in Pyeongchang (2-1-1). A booty that could already be equaled today as reflected by the bitterness between the Standing (athletes who ski standing) for Federico Pelizzari, who finished fourth, unable to grab the first medal of his career: he will try again among three days in slalom. In the same category, twenty-first place for Davide Bendotti.
Tomorrow it’s up to women, always in giant with two blue in the race between the Vision Impaired. The Friulian Martina Vozza is back on the track, in search of redemption after the downhill, super-G and super-combined exits, following the lines of the fellow countryman Ylenia Sabidussi. Absolute debut at the Paralympic Games, however, for Chiara Mazzel, who will be piloted by Fabrizio Casal, the one who led Bertagnolli up to the PyeongChang Games.