One month before the start of Milan-Cortina 2026, the predictions and sensations of the former skier of the Valanga Azzurra who is now a Rai commentator who is on newsstands with the book “I touched the sky”
One month before the start of the Milan-Cortina Olympics, Paolo De Chiesa, one of the skiers who fueled the legend of the “Avalanga Azzurra” presented his book in Cortina: “I touched the sky” written with Sergio Barducci, a dramatic moment in his life that Paolo had always preferred to remain private and which now, on the threshold of 70 (he will turn 14 March) he has instead decided to make public.
De Chiesa, she was shot in the face and she risked dying, she kept that secret to herself for many years then she decided to tell it in the film “La Valanga Azzurra” by Giovanni Veonesi and then the book.
“It was the most difficult moment of my life, I decided to tell it now because I’m almost 70 years old and many years have passed. It took me a while to convince myself, they had asked me many times to write a book about my career but it wasn’t the time. Now yes. We were at dinner with friends, at a certain point someone pulled out a gun and my girlfriend at the time fired a shot which hit me. Miraculously I was saved, but I didn’t say anything, I didn’t report anyone, but no one ever apologized to me for that episode. While I was in hospital and then in the following months I had only one thing in mind: to go back to being as strong as before.”
You never won a World Cup match and yet you are considered one of the heroes of that fantastic team.
“The real champions were Gustavo Thoeni and Pierino Gros, I won many races in the youth team but then in the World Cup I competed against phenomena, not just those on my team. One day Mario Cotelli came to us and told us: guys we have a problem, I saw a Swede skiing who doesn’t move the snow when he skis”. It was about Ingmar Stenmark.”
The one that denied him the victory over the 3Tre in Madonna di Campiglio.
“Yes, that is a historic date for skiing, the first of 85 world cup victories for Ingmar with whom we have maintained a relationship of great friendship. He has a birthday on 18 March, a few days after me. And every year he sends me best wishes with a photo of the podium in Campiglio on 17 December 1974”.
And again in Campiglio in 1981 again on the podium with Stenmark and Phil Mahre,
“It was the race in which I returned to the track after the accident. It was a special moment, for me it was like winning an Olympics because I had found within myself the strength to get up and start my life again. How did I do it? I don’t know. I asked myself this many times but I was never able to really understand what triggered inside me. There was certainly a lot of suffering in those years.”
The Blue Valanga made skiing popular.
“Yes, he transformed it from an elite sport to a popular sport, all Italians fell in love with skiing and started trying it. There were thousands of people at our races and the ratings on television were sensational, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the whole of Italy stopped. And a few years later Alberto Tomba arrived, who was like a little brother to me because he started in the last year of my career.”
Let’s come to the Olympics, what does it represent for an athlete?
“An athlete’s dream, there is nothing like winning an Olympics, which is why I always say that the greatest of all was Deborah Compagnoni, because she won 3 golds and a silver at the Olympics. It’s an incredible feat that demonstrates the greatness of this athlete.”
You were on the organizing committee of Turin 2006, now you will comment on Milan-Cortina 2026 for Rai. What differences do you see?
“Turin was a great success and I’m sure that Milan-Cortina will be the same. Don’t pay attention to the controversy over the delays in works on the facilities, it always happens. But then the competitions begin and the whole world will have their eyes on Italy, everyone will discover our beauties. I like that the beauties of Italy are valorised even more. I am in favor of this new formula, the future will be the shared Olympics like Milan-Cortina”.
Who can give us gold?
“I believe it will be the Goggia Olympics. Sofia has a great chance of winning in the freestyle and Super-G. She knows the Olympia delle Tofane slope very well (where De Chiesa skied yesterday) and has won many times. Sofia is preparing very well, in the year of the Olympics everything is done in view of that day, even the World Cup takes second place. These are just stages leading up to the big event.”
Is Lindsay Vonn the number one antagonist?
“What a phenomenon Vonn is. Returning to the highest levels after 5 years of hiatus and a knee operation is something incredible. But we are talking about an absolute champion, she has already shown that she is thinking about the gold in Cortina, it will be a beautiful race.”
And Federica Brignone?
“She had a fantastic 2025, but the accident is very serious and I don’t think she would be on the track if there wasn’t the Olympics. From her desire to be there, we understand how important the Olympics are for an athlete, she’s forcing the times and I’m very curious to see what conditions she’ll be in.”
What should we expect from males?
“Unfortunately in recent years no great results have come from the men, but Paris knows the Bormio track perfectly, he has won six times in the downhill and once in the super-G. It could be his Olympics and it would be the culmination of a great career. And then there’s Vinatzer, there’s always a surprise at the Olympics and maybe it could be him.”
