A snow-covered Val Gardena welcomed the 2013 Alpine Ski World Cup for its first stop of the season on Italian snow. Opening this skiing “expedition” was the Men’s Super-G race.
The stage for the race was the famous Saslong, the Val Gardena slope that descends from the foot of the Sassolungo down to the valley of Santa Cristina in Val Gardena, a very intriguing course whose terrain features make it especially exciting due to its gradient changes, rollers, and narrow sections.
The race opened with decidedly wintry weather conditions: a light snowfall dusted the slope overnight, creating a thin layer of snow on top of the course—nothing extraordinary, but making the track slightly softer due to the snowfall and especially the rise in snow temperature from -20 degrees in recent days to -7 this morning. No ice on the course, but good conditions for our Italian skiers.
It was indeed our Azzurri who kicked off the real race with the run of Innerhofer, who despite a mistake on the first steep pitch managed to recover with a great performance, moving into second place 13 hundredths behind France’s Clarey.
Then came the turn of Matteo Marsaglia, who put on a show from start to finish with a superb performance; an error-free run resulted in a practically perfect descent that left the rest of the field behind, capturing first place. After Marsaglia’s lead, fellow Italian Werner Heel came down, immediately proving even more combative than his teammate in an aggressive run that saw him ahead of Matteo right from the first split times. At the finish, just when Heel looked set to take the lead, the clock showed him right behind Marsaglia with a slight deficit due to a slowdown on the final section of the slope.
Two different skiing styles—smooth and clean from Matteo Marsaglia, aggressive and decisive from Werner Heel—both spectacular, lifting Italy to the top.
Only the run of Svindal managed to beat the Italians, snatching the top step of the podium and finishing ahead of everyone—perhaps aided by the course set by the Norwegian coach, but thoroughly deserving thanks to an excellent run in which he harnessed his physical power to leave everyone else in his wake.
Then the snowfall grew heavier, especially at higher altitude, altering the Saslong track and making it softer and slower.
Due to the snow and the outstanding performances of the early starters, the standings saw no major changes, no surprises, and a podium featuring 2 Italian athletes.
Next stop tomorrow once again in Val Gardena for the men’s downhill, followed on Sunday by the Giant Slalom in Alta Badia on the Gran Risa.
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