Beijing – Italy celebrates two more podiums and climbs to ten medals with the bronze of Davide Ghiotto in the 10,000 meters of speed skating and that of Dorothea Wierer in the biathlon sprint test. Disappointment, however, for Arianna Fontana who fell in the final of the 1000 meters in the short track two laps from the finish when she was in the medal zone.
Alpine skiing is also bad. With Sofia Goggia absent and looking for recovery at least for the downhill (rest today, tomorrow the first tests start), the Olympic super-G ends without flashes for Italy: Federica Brignone, leader of the specialty World Cup, is alone seventh with a gap of 66 cents from the new five-circle champion Lara Gut-Behrami, gold (her first Olympic) with a time of 1: 13.51. It also disappoints Elena Curtoni, tenth, worse Marta Bassino (17 / a) and Francesca Marsaglia (22 / o). The American Mikaela Shiffrin, after the exits in giant and special slalom, managed to finish the test in ninth place.
Italy returns to the speed skating podium
After Francesca Lollobrigida’s silver in the 3000 already on the first day of competitions, the unexpected bronze of Davide Ghiotto in the 10000 arrived, in a very fast race. Gold went to Swedish Nils Van der Poel, who set the new world record in 12’30”74, ahead of Dutchman Patrick Ned Roest, 13”85 trailing. The blue finished at 15”24 (12’45”24 his time).
Davide, 28, born in Altavilla Vicentina, philosophy student, grew up practicing roller skating with good results, then he was seduced by Enrico Fabris’s achievements in 2006 at the Turin Games. In 2012 he went from rollers to ice. His is the ninth medal of the blue expedition, the first in speed skating since Turin. “There is no victory without pain»,« No gain no pain », is his motto. «I love this sport because you run against the clock, in a race against time. The beauty is that I have the opportunity to improve ». He has a secret: before each race he talks to the skates about him. This time he really found the right words.
Historical medal in biathlon
Dorothea Wierer stellar. The blue accomplishes the umpteenth extraordinary feat of her career and she takes the bronze medal in the women’s sprint at the Beijing 2022 Games. She At 31 she rewrites the history of Italian biathlon. She is very precise in shooting, as always, she has strengthened her competition with a solid test on tight skis. Finally, the five-circle medal she had been chasing for eight years is in her hands. She thus adds another bronze to her palmares: she had won the others with the mixed relay, first in Sochi and then in PyeongChang.
This is a very heavy bronze: it is the best result in history for the blue women’s sector. For the Italian biathlon it is the seventh Olympic medal: the sixth bronze, with Pieralberto Carrara’s silver in Nagano ’98 in the 20 km which still remains the best result ever.
The gold of the sprint went to the neck of the Norwegian Mars Roeiseland, who staged the perfect race with a time of 20’44 “3, thanks also to the best time on skis. Silver for the Swedish Elvira Oeberg, delayed by 30 “9 compared to the leader of the standings.
Direct and never banal, Wierer does not send them to say: «In the last period there has been a lot of criticism. But we responded well, even as a team. Trainers, skimen and technical director make a huge “deck” every day, so I’m very happy for them too. I don’t remember anything about the shooting sessions, the last shot on the ground even pinched the target, which fortunately then closed, evidently luck was on my side today. In the standing shot it all came automatically. I took off a huge weight, it’s certainly a good position for Sunday’s chase, given the gaps in the standings. The forecasts speak of a worsening of the weather conditions, but there will be no time to think about it ».
The second knockout for Italy in curling
But the second knockout for Italy in curling also arrives: after the gold in the mixed doubles, the blue team suffers another defeat in the men’s tournament. After their debut with Great Britain, the Italian quartet was beaten 9-3 by Sweden. Saturday new challenge with the hosts of China.
In the women’s skeleton single, Valentina Margaglio, the only blue entered in the race, finished the first two runs in sixteenth place at 1 ″ 54 from the Australian leader, Jaclyn Narracott. The last two decisive heats are on Saturday.
The Japanese Hirano Ayumu instead takes the reign of the halfpipe snowboard and overthrows Shaun White: for the American, the undisputed king of the board, his career ends with fourth place and goodbye tears.
The Valieva case
Meanwhile, on the case of the Russian baby skater Kamila Valieva, the International Testing Agency reports that the athlete had tested positive for a banned substance approaching the Games and that the sports arbitration court for the Russian federation will decide on her participation in the individual test. “At present he has the right to train and take part in competitions in full without restrictions, unless the Arbitral Tribunal for Sports makes a different decision regarding his status in relation to the Olympic Games.”
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