This morning on the snows of Schladming, female skiers from around the globe lined up at the starting gate for the women’s downhill at the 2013 World Alpine Ski Championships.
The pre-race favorites included many big names from several countries, but no Italians. Upsetting the odds was Italy’s Nadia Fanchini, a native of Montecampione, who skied a superb race to claim the silver medal at the 2013 World Championships.
The women’s downhill kicked off with the Italian skiers, led off by Nadia and followed by Sofia Goggia. The Azzurre showed they had what it takes to compete with the best: Nadia posted a faster time than Sofia, who made a mistake that cost her significant time. However, early runs offer little basis for comparison, and nobody expected Fanchini’s time to stand up as the benchmark for the rest of the field, with so many top contenders waiting to knock the Italian off the top spot.
Neither Lara Gut, nor Julia Mancuso, nor Tina Maze managed to get ahead of the Italian; even though the Slovenian skied brilliantly over most of the course, in the end she fell short.
Only the formidable Maria Riesch (winner of yesterday’s Super Combined) gave the Italian a real scare with a fantastic run, though it was not quite enough to unseat her from the top spot, earning Riesch the bronze medal at the end of the race.
Ending the gold-medal dream were our French neighbors with the run of Marion Rolland, one of the title contenders, who gave it her all and clocked fast splits right from the top. Pure speed decided the final outcome in a clean, mistake-free run that carried the Frenchwoman ahead of Italy’s Nadia Fanchini; a clear sign of what the final result would be came after the traverse, where the course flattens out and exit speed largely determines the time over the closing section. Crossing the finish line, the clock awarded the gold medal to France’s Rolland with a winning time of 1:50.00, 0.16 seconds ahead of Nadia Fanchini.
A gold medal earned through a stellar skiing performance and a flawless downhill run.
None of the later starters were able to threaten a podium stacked with blistering times and world-class athletes.
Despite missing out on gold by a whisker, Nadia was overjoyed to win this silver medal at the Schladming World Championships after spending so long battling serious injuries and a string of races without major results.
It was a completely different Nadia from just a few days ago, when after the Super-G she broke down in tears in front of the cameras over a disappointing finish—frustration born of a troubled spell that was swept away today by a brilliant race that earned her a richly deserved World Championship silver medal.
Nadia Fanchini’s podium is a source of pride for the entire Italian National Team, as well as a huge personal victory that will very likely give our Italian star the strength and confidence to return to winning ways in the World Cup as well!
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