Elena Fanchini, the stars of blue skiing sign a bib to be sent to the family – Corriere.it

In the last test of women’s skiing there is the beautiful gesture of Federica Brignone, who makes all the athletes sign a bib to be donated to Elena Fanchini’s family, and there is also the brand of the practically unbeatable woman, Mikaela Shiffrin. The season of Mikaela in fact, it ends in glory and with the triumph also in the giant of the Soldeu finals, a race that gives Italy the third place of Marta Bassino in the final ranking of the specialty.

It is the success number 88 of the Snow Queen (in the parterre curiously interviewed by her boyfriend, the Norwegian champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde), became the most successful athlete ever in the World Cup – in the Aare stage she had reached and surpassed Ingemar Stenmark’s 86 first places – and more than ever on the spot when it comes to attacking records. In this circumstance she detached an icon of the giant, the Swiss Vreni Schneider, active between 1984 and 1995: with the twenty-first center between the wide doors she is now the American number one in the history of the specialty. Also the Shiffrin he equaled the podiums of the Austrian Marcel Hirscher, who retired in September 2019. Mikaela, who had 14 first places in the year and conquered the fifth overall World Cup as well as the seventh in slalom and the second in giant slalom, finished with 2206 points in the general classification, a haul higher than that of the male dominator, the Swiss Marco Odermatt (2042). The numbers also define the near and future path of the star of the white circus: from here on, Shiffrin will in fact be able to try to override Tina Maze’s points record (2414), try to win the sixth World Cup to equal Anne Marie Moser -Proell and then target the 8 trophies of the aforementioned Hirscher. Being just 28 years old (recently completed) and having returned to a state of grace, these missions will be more than possible.

Also in Andorra Mikaela laid the foundations for success in the first heat (62 cents over the Canadian Grenier, 63 over Bassino), then in the second she managed on the edge of the cents, finishing with a 6 margin over the Norwegian Stjernesund in comeback and with 2 tenths over Grenier. Marta Bassino slipped to sixth place, but thanks to the fact that both Vlhova and Brignone had jumped in the initial descent, she managed to finish on the lowest podium of the discipline. Second place went to the Swiss Gut-Behrami who with fourth place kept 17 points (532 against 515) over the Piedmontese. For Martha, who had won the giant cup in 2021, however the culmination of a season illuminated by world championship gold in super-G. And for pink Italy a good closing that seals the record of podiums for women: 26, one more than the 2017 vintage. The disappointment remains for the exit of Federica Brignone, betrayed by jumping a bump when she was faster than the Shiffrin and, very probably, could have played with her the rematch of the World Cup (the American won the giant and the Valle d’Aosta was silver medal). But beyond the sporting aspect, Federica’s beautiful initiative remains. Elena Fanchini, a former Italian sprinter, who died at the age of 37 last February 14 after having fought in vain against a tumor, was much loved by her colleagues. Collecting the signatures on a bib to be donated to the sisters Nadia and Sabrina and more generally to the entire family of the unfortunate girl from Brescia was such a great idea.