A 2022 to be framed for the Italy of alpine skiing, especially for the women’s sector. Many goals were achieved during the calendar year, such as the 1000 podiums in the history of the World Cup – a figure reached in mid-December with the Mattia Casse’s first joy in his career in the Val Gardena downhill – and the record for victories in a single season for women in the major circuit (11), culminating with the crystal balls conquered in the last edition by Sofia Goggia downhill and the historic first in Super-G by Federica Brignone in front of Elena Curtoni. At the Beijing Winter Olympics theepic silver of Goggia and the podium shared in the downhill with Nadia Delago, bronze, without forgetting the encore of Brignone podiums in giant and combined; all despite a slightly bitter overall balance in the mouth for the lack of a supergiant medal. Then the very strong restart of the girls after the summer break – unfortunately the same cannot be said of the men – which allows Italy to close with a bang, celebrating New Year’s Eve with three red bibs, three different leading athletes in three specialty classifications in the middle of the 2022/2023 World Cup. Bassino in giant, Goggia in descent and Curtoni in Super-G. An event of an absolute rarity for blue skiing, the hope of maintaining the leadership also in the continuation of the season: because if it has already happened in the past that three crystal balls arrived in Italy in one fell swoop, just think of Brignone’s hoarding in 2020 or Alberto Tomba among men in 1994/1995, it has never happened in the past that they were conquered by at least two different female skiers, a symptom of a movement of robust completeness. Of a new pink avalanche of alpine skiing.
The 2022 of Italy’s women’s alpine skiing in numbers
Semmering
Bassino: “It was a fight, I can play it in all races”
6 HOURS AGO
WORLD CUP VICTORIES
10
WORLD CUP PODIUMS
20
SPECIALTY CUPS
2
OLYMPIC MEDALS
4
Marta Bassino – giant
From the Olympic disappointment onwards, an ascending hyperbole. After having sealed the big appointment, Marta Bassino had the ability to get up and make a change. You finished the previous season with two podiums in giant, you continued the sequence in the next four races between the wide doors. Basically after the Olympics you missed the appointment with the podium in this specialty only in Lenzerheide, while now boasts a streak of six consecutive top-3s. She earned her red bib thanks to home win in Sestrieremanaged to preserve it subsequent trials in Semmering with two third places. The 26-year-old from Borgo San Dalmazzo is at the moment the fittest and most constant gigantist skier, but with the new year comes the difficult part: she will have to know how to handle the pressure of an extremely aggressive Mikaela Shiffrin, now 40 points behind but returning from Austrian double, while Lara Gut-Behrami (48 lengths behind) and this season’s great place Petra Vlhova (at -74) also appear as potential dangers. The female giant still remains the specialty with the highest competition, which is why not even Sara Hector (who had a misstep in Austria) and Federico Brignonegrowing.
Chances to win the specialty cup: average
The ranking of female giant (after 4 races out of 10)
1. M. BASSINO (ITA)
300
2. M. SHIFFRIN (USA)
260
3. L. GUT-BEHRAMI (SUI)
252
4. P. VLHOVA (SVK)
226
5. F. BRIGNONE (ITA)
174
Mission accomplished Bassino: another podium and defended red bib, relive it
Sofia Goggia – downhill
An entire year on a roller coaster, this is how 2022 could be defined by the skier from Bergamo. From Cortina’s knee injury which jeopardized her participation in five circles to then compete and conquer an incredible silver, up to the fractured hand in the last stage held in St. Moritz to then win twenty-four hours later. The epic of Sofia Goggia it’s also in this, in coming back stronger than before after being destroyed. Until now found no rivals in downhill in the current season, putting on a series of three victories and a second place (the one in which she broke her hand and went down in extreme visibility conditions), it is no coincidence that red bib has been sewn on her for over two yearsthe. But the goals of the Olympic vice-champion go beyond the fourth downhill crystal ball. And to do it, he needs the physique to hold up to her grandeur.
Chance to win the specialty cup: high
The women’s downhill standings (after 4 out of 9 races)
1. S. GOGGIA (ITA)
380
2. C. SUTER (SUI)
218
3. I. STUHEC (SLO)
192
4. E. CURTONI (ITA)
186
5. N. ORTLIEB (AUT)
178
Phenomenal goggia: broken hand and victory in 24 hours, that’s how it went
Elena Curtoni – Super G
Not quite the latest arrival. The 31-year-old from Valtellina had already shown her potential at the time at a youth level, even though she has reached full competitive maturity for a year now, definitively exploding in the last speed races in St. Moritz where she obtained the third career victory (downhill) and a second place which allowed her to become the leader of the women’s Super-G after the first two rounds of the season. Elena Curtoni is not new to staying in the top tiers of this ranking, given that last season she finished only behind Brignone. However, the classification is still very open as seven races are still scheduled and the direct pursuers Suter, Shiffrin and Mowinckel are enclosed in 20 points.
But if on the one hand Curtoni is the one most in danger of losing the red bib, it should not be forgotten on the other that Italy has shown that it has numerous arrows in its quiver (last season two thirds of the victories and four blue in the top ten of the standings). Goggia is not that far from the top and the cup encore is a goal within reach once 100% of the condition is reached again; Brignone managed to win it in the previous edition thanks to her ability to climb from January onwards; while Bassino can act as an assistant by inserting himself between the foreign companions and opponents.
Chance to win the specialty cup: medium-low
Chance of an Italian winning the specialty cup: medium-high
The Super-G standings (after 2 out of 9 races)
1. E. CURTONI (ITA)
120
2. C. SUTER (SUI)
116
3. M. SHIFFRIN (USA)
100
3. R. MOWINCKEL (NOR)
100
5. S. GOGGIA (ITA)
90
Curtoni’s joy, there is the national anthem
And Federica Brignone?
She has been our main “all rounder” in the World Cup for years, as already anticipated she could compete in at least two of the three aforementioned specialty classifications, however La Salle’s tiger paid for a start to the season with little feeling. After a March that closed in style, at the end of 2022 Brignone came close to the 50th podium in the World Cup in the giant double in Semmering, and the impression is that can return permanently among the best in the second half of the season. Not only the next World Championships in Courchevel/Meribel are in the sights, but at this point also the comeback in giant and Super-G, hoping for a misstep by the others. In addition to the rivalry with Goggia for the most successful Italian palm of all time: who can guarantee you extra-motives from 2023?
Chance to win a specialty cup: average
Brignone: “I’m working hard to get a good feeling back”
Bormio
Paris: “At least I scored some points, I only have the World Cup left”
6 HOURS AGO
Semmering
Shiffrin-bis to Semmering: wins despite a mistake on the floor, see her again
