Laura Pirovano wins again in the downhill at Passo San Pellegrino. Incredible encore, always with a single cent margin
And who could have imagined it? Laura Pirovano won again. Like 24 hours earlier, with the same margin as 24 hours earlier: one hundredth of a second. Two consecutive free descents at Passo San Pellegrino, in Val di Fassa, two identical first places in the gap. Yesterday March 6th, it was Emma Aicher who was the one to lose her hands (by a hair’s breadth), this time it was the turn of the Austrian Cornelia Hütter. Also on the podium was the Swiss Corinne Suter, five cents away. The only three athletes capable of going under 1 minute and 21 seconds.
«I had the feeling that it wasn’t enough: when I saw the green light for a penny, I said: “are you playing a joke on me?”» says Laura, referring to the times of the board. No, it wasn’t a joke.
The race and the comeback
The 28 year old from Spiazzo interpreted the track with the same clarity as twenty-four hours earlier. Slightly difficult start, then masterful management of the central technical part and great speed in the finale.
The other blue ones are further back. Sofia Goggia finished eleventh at 1″05, preceded by two hundredths of a second by Nicol Delago, ninth on a par with the Norwegian Monsen. Both improved compared to the first descent. Nadia Delago, 17th, and Roberta Melesi, 23rd, were further behind.
Laura Pirovano’s feat
«At the halfway point I was very tired», admitted the Italian. «Yesterday it took away my energy. I just tried to let go of the skis. It’s even more incredible than yesterday.” Then he dedicates it: to the family, to the Fiamme Gialle, to the coach and to the ski trainer. «I have always talked about the bad luck I had. In these two days I would say that I have evened the score.”
With these 100 points, Pirovano takes the lead in the specialty rankings with 436 points28 more than German Emma Aicher and 36 ahead of Lindsey Vonn, who has already closed her season (and presumably her career). Only the finals match is missing: the discipline trophy finally seems within his reach.
The strangeness of sport
Sofia Goggia he acknowledged his partner’s performance without beating around the bush: «Lolli had a crazy two days and deserves everything». Nicol Delagotaking Pirovano as his muse, decided to look forward: «We must insist, because as we saw with Lolli, sooner or later everything comes back».
On Sunday 8 March at Passo San Pellegrino there will be Super-Gdeparting at 10.45am. Laura will show up exhausted but very active. Two victories in two days, always within a hundredth of a second. And before then, never on the podium in the World Cup. Sometimes sport finds the most bizarre ways of giving back everything it had previously taken away.
