The countdown is nearly over: the 49th FIS Nordic World Ski Championships are ready to raise the curtain tomorrow, February 20, when the action finally begins.
Val di Fiemme has the green light across the board: the organizational machine, finely tuned for months, is ready to roar, the trails are perfectly snow-covered, and the stadiums are fully operational and ready to go in both Lago di Tesero and Predazzo. The Main Media Center in Cavalese has been up and running since yesterday, and its splendid press room is steadily filling up with journalists from all over the world. Transport services are running smoothly, and an army of smiling volunteers is on the move, ready to assist everyone in the Trentino valley.
With one day to go, the athletes who will take center stage at these World Championships—thrilling the crowds and inspiring fans—have now been unveiled.
The Italian squad lines up more determined than ever. For cross-country skiing, Silvio Fauner has called up Giorgio Di Centa, Roland Clara, Valerio Checchi, Thomas Moriggl, David Hofer, Fabio Pasini, Fulvio Scola, Federico Pellegrino, Dietmar Noeckler, Fabio Clementi, Maicol Rastelli, and Mattia Pellegrin. On the women’s side: Debora Agreiter, Virginia De Martin, Veronica Cavallar, Ilaria Debertolis, Marina Piller, Elisa Brocard, Greta Laurent, Gaia Vuerich, Lucia Scardoni, and Francesca Baudin.
For ski jumping and Nordic combined, Ivo Pertile has selected for ski jumping Davide Bresadola, Sebastian Colloredo, Roberto Dellasega, Andrea Morassi, Diego Dellasega, and Evelyn Insam, Elena Runggaldier, Roberta D’Agostina, and Manuela Malsiner; and for Nordic combined Armin Bauer, Samuel Costa, Giuseppe Michielli, Alessandro Pittin, and Lukas Runggaldier.
The Italians will have their work cut out for them, as rivals from the North (and beyond) will grant the hosts no favors and will battle to the very end for World Championship medals. Among them are the “usual suspects” Petter Northug (NOR), Dario Cologna (SUI), and Russia’s Alexander Legkov, who already made his mark at the Tour de Ski; on the women’s side, Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk will be closely marked by Norwegians Marit Bjørgen, Therese Johaug, and Kristin Størmer Steira. In men’s ski jumping, all eyes will be on Austria’s Gregor Schlierenzauer, World Cup leader and reigning world champion on the HS134 hill; in women’s ski jumping, the athlete to watch is young Japanese star Sara Takanashi, overall World Cup leader and Junior World Champion, alongside Americans Sarah Hendrickson, Jessica Jerome, and Lindsey Van. In Nordic combined, an all-European battle is shaping up between Eric Frenzel (GER), Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA), Bernhard Gruber (AUT), and Magnus-H. Moan (NOR), with Japan’s Akito Watabe looking to join the fray.
The World Championships kick off tomorrow morning with the women’s 5 km and men’s 10 km free-technique qualification races. Tomorrow’s qualifiers will feature a vibrant array of flags from around the world, offering a rare chance to see athletes who do not normally appear in World Cup standings. We are certain that Viossi Akpedje Madja of Togo, Roberto Carcelen of Peru, and Dachhiri Sherpa of Nepal, as well as Brazilians Jacqueline Mourao and Mirlene Picin, will receive a special cheer tomorrow at Lago di Tesero when the starters send off the qualification races at 10:45 AM for the women and 12:45 PM for the men.
After soaking up the opening World Championship action on snow, the spotlight will shift to Piazza Duomo in Trento, where at 6:00 PM the opening ceremony will officially kick off Fiemme 2013. A spectacular show is guaranteed: following the parade of participating delegations, the flag ceremonies of Italy and the International Ski Federation, and the official speeches, the official World Championships anthem conducted by Goran Bregović will echo across Trentino. Then the main show will begin: for thirty minutes, performances by dancers, actors, and Val di Fiemme mountain guides will captivate spectators with choreography and aerial displays dedicated to sport, the Dolomites, and the timber heritage of Val di Fiemme. The broadcast will then cut live to the Cross-Country Stadium in Lago di Tesero for the final seven minutes of the ceremony, featuring a parade of young athletes from Trentino sports clubs carrying the flags of the participating nations alongside sporting legends (including the Vanzetta brothers and Alberto Tomba) to the finish line. There, the grand finale will see 150 illuminated mini hot-air balloons rise into the sky to launch the closing fireworks display.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on RaiSport 1. Anyone unable to find a spot in Piazza Duomo need not worry: giant screens will broadcast the ceremony live in Piazza Cesare Battisti (as well as at the Cross-Country Stadium in Lago di Tesero).
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