NEWS
ROLLER SKI
About twenty days separate Val di Fiemme from the awaited appointment with the Rollerski World Championship, which will liven up the Valley from September 12th to 15th, awarding not only the world champion medals in the speciality but also defining the overall ranking of the World Cup season with the related delivery of the coveted crystal globes for a finale to follow.
After July’s competitions in the Latvian locality of Madona and the August ones in the Kazakh locality of Schuchinsk, the caravan of the world’s best roller-skiers only has to reach the courses between Ziano di Fiemme and Alpe Cermis to conclude in four days of great sport the efforts of the 2024 season. In fact, the conclusion of the World Cup is “only” missing the September Val di Fiemme-branded races: Mass Start FT (Thursday 12th), Sprint FT (Friday 13th), Team Sprint FT (Saturday 14th) and Uphill Mass Start “Cermis Final Climb” CT (Sunday 15th), with the world titles for the women and men’s senior and junior categories up for grabs. With 2 out of 3 stages in the bag, it is Linn Sömskar (SWE) and Raimo Vigants (LAT) who are leading the respective rankings: the Swedish champion is 110 points ahead of the compatriot Stenman, while 38 points behind the place of honour there is Maria Eugenia Boccardi, who is confident after the away game in Kazakhstan. “Overall this was a positive expedition, I had great feelings in the Mass start FT where I always stayed in the group of the best and even sprinted for the 2nd place overall. I am less satisfied with the individual race, which being in classic technique was more suited for my characteristics, but I arrived “only” 8th. In preparation for the World Championship in Val di Fiemme I will work to do well, especially in the Final Climb of Cermis, while the sprint is a format more distant from my world although I will try to do my best”, added the class of 2000. Back from Kazakhstan with a win (Individual 10 km CT) and 5th place (Mass start 20 km CT), Matteo Tanel sums up: “I liked this stage, I felt good. It was a pleasure to feel the leg turn the efforts in training paid off…it means feeling fulfilled as athletes”. While on the fate of the 2024 season, not failing to thank Colonel Umberto Daves of the 6th Alpine Regiment of Brunico who allows him to train and compete, he adds: “Latvian Raimo Vigants is the favourite for the races in Val di Fiemme and also for the overall World Cup which he now has practically in his grasp. Too bad for these gaps in the standings, but those are just part of the sport. I am focused on the Mass Start of Ziano di Fiemme and then, on the Cermis we will see. If I have fun, I am going strong: “It is a matter of the head”. Tanel is momentarily second in the overall ranking with 459 points, tied with fellow Italian Riccardo Lorenzo Masiero. The two Italian national team bearers are preceded by the prodigious Latvian Raimo Vigants who, as 2023 World Cup winner Tommaso Dellagiacoma recalled “proved to be really strong and complete. The World Championship competitions in Val di Fiemme will be the focus of my season and the same goes for many other athletes. They will be highly competitive challenges since the world titles are up for grabs and are well overdue for three years. I hope we will put on exciting events both for us athletes and for the public who will follow us, on the sidelines and from home,” added Dellagiacoma, who on his performance in Kazakhstan says, ”I admit that I am not happy with my condition in the last stage of the World Cup. However, I am still confident because from personal experience I know that I can make a difference in the days that separate me from the World Championships. I don't know yet which races I will participate in, but I will do my best to win the summon in the Team Sprint too, in addition to the Mass Start and the Final Climb.”
High and lows during the season for Michele Valerio, who due to some physical problems struggles on the distance races, but manages to express well in the Sprint ones (and is second in the overall speciality ranking behind specialist Emanuele Becchis) and in Val di Fiemme he will focus precisely on the snappy 200 m format on Friday. Different music for his colleague Giovanni Lorenzetti, author of a solid season full of important placement: “last year I got a 7th and 5th place in Val di Fiemme in the Mass Start and on the Cermis, the goal this season can only be to improve”.
Thanks to the excellent team performances, the Italian national team is momentarily leading the nation ranking over its Kazakh rivals. The plan, for TD’s Emanuele Sbabo women and men, is to have a high-level “home” World Championship to conclude an already satisfying season in the best way.
In mid-September, the courses between Ziano di Fiemme and the iconic ramps of the Alpe Cermis will write yet another page of world roller-skiing history. All thanks to the attentive and expert organization of the Nordic Ski Val di Fiemme committee led by President Pietro De Godenz.
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