Historic first Italian victory in women’s ski cross, Jole Galli wins it

Triumphant day for Italy in race two of the Val di Fassa Ski Cross World Cup. After the disappointment of a somewhat bitter Saturday with the quarterfinal exit of all three qualified Azzurri, Sunday’s race will remain in the history of national ski cross. Amid fog and a thick if thin snowfall, the Monzoni ski cross course gave the first career victory (third podium in the cup), which coincides with the’only female success in the maximum circuit, to Jole Galli from Livigno, Italy, a second place for 24-year-old Simone Deromedis from Taio, Trentino, Italy, with his regaining of the gold bib as leader of the overall standings, as well as the twelfth podium in the World Cup.

A jubilation of tricolor flags, then, on the finish line of Passo San Pellegrino, just a whisker away from a historic double, with technical director Bartolomeo Pala in seventh heaven for the team success, as then Bergamo-born Federico Tomasoni finished sixth, preceded in the small final only by the’former Cup leader Florian Wilmsmann. Dominik Zuech from Lana in Veneto è exited in the quarters with a 14° place finish.

Exemplary was the final of Jole Galli of Cs Carabinieri, good in the various heats to win the next battery, in the semifinals with a spectacular comeback and bordering on perfection in the’last act of the day. È started like lightning at the gate and è remained in command throughout the run, cheering like a madwoman at the finish line. For her, a former alpine skiing athlete with one race competed in the World Cup, the 2017 Soelden Giant, a liberating shout after a few difficult seasons and the persistent problem with her back, with her two hernias coming up from time to time and which had forced her to miss Thursday’s first qualifier and race one. She rested, è prepared herself thoroughly, è was put on her feet by the physiotherapist and è made history. In the finals, the Livignasca woman was ahead of France’s Marielle Berger Sabbatel, Switzerland’s Fanny Smith and Canada’s Abby McEwen.Thanks to the 100 points won, she climbs to sixth position in the overall lead by Canada’s Marielle Thompson.

Similar is the path of Simone Deromedis in the men’s heats. The talented skier from Trentino, compared to Saturday è always got off to a good start, positioning himself in front of everyone and managing the race to the finish, thanks also to the extraordinary work of the skimans, who fortified the entire Italian team of particularly fast skis. Particularly interesting was the semifinal, which saw World Cup leader Florian Wilmsmann and Italy’s Simone Deromedis compete in the same heat. After a shoulder-to-shoulder start the Trentino financier won, while the German è was overtaken by the gritty Canadian Reece Howden, having to settle for the Small final, then won.

In the very final Deromedis è started like a rocket, but in the middle part è was flanked and overtaken by Canadian Howden, with whom he fought to the last for the day’s gold medal. Victory therefore for the Canadian, by a’nth ahead of the Italian, then fourth the winner of Saturday’s race Ryan Regez and fourth the Austrian Johannes Aujesky. Sixth was Federico Tomasoni from Bergamo, fourteenth Dominik Zuech with some regrets for the quarterfinal exit.

With the 80 points put in the pot, Simone Deromedis from Trentino is once again the leader of the World Cup circuit with 639 points, compared to German Florian Wilmsmann’s 620, then third with 542 is Canadian Reece Howden, for a circuit that this year è particularly hard-fought with six races to go, World Championships excluded. For Val di Fassa a more than positive World Cup debut, put to the test by Sunday’s weather conditions. An exam passed with flying colors and the willà to enter in definitive mode in the calendar in the coming seasons.