Martha, how wonderful! From Squaw Valley to Killington, from Costazza to Rossetti, Italslalom sees the top five again

Coast to coast, from California to Vermont, it crosses all of America to go from Squaw Valley to Killington.

What are we talking about? Well, the ride that divides the slalom of March 11, 2017 into the one tried today on the “Superstar”, for two fifth places in blue, signed by Chiara Costazza on the one hand and Marta Rossetti on the other, which has a special meaning in the modern history of a movement that was in crisis. For years, but it may see the light now.

After Levi’s double opening, with the exception of Martina Pieterlini, there was no shortage of criticism of the Italian’s performance in Finland, but what we saw today certainly changes expectations; The girl from Garda, born in 1999, returned the women’s slalom to the top five, more than six and a half years after she last succeeded in Vaasa. Mikaela Shiffrin also won that day by coincidence…

What can I say about the racing that Rossetti showed today at Killington? We celebrate the fact that both were in the first round, starting from number 32 to take 13th place, 1 inch 66 behind Shiffrin, but above all in the second round, the Italian showed speed and quality at the highest level. Except for the first stretch of the final wall, on the decisive descent, Marta was faster than everyone, even Shiffrin and Vlhova, and she did so starting from 18th position.

An athlete who can now find that confidence lost for a few years, after tearing her cruciate kneecap in training, in January 2021, just a few days after her best result in the Cup, at least to date, an 11th place for Semmering. At the end of 2020.

Lara Della Mea also performed well today, finishing 15th (her best performance ever, compared to 16th at Semmering 2018) with some mistakes at the end of the second round which not only cost her a top 10 finish but also potentially Within the top seven positions. Note that the gaps are very small from Slokar (VII) to Tarvizia.

The only real counter performance on the day, apart from Joli who was really hard to expect great things on such a difficult slope, was that of Martina Pieterlini, but after what we saw in Levi, perhaps we don’t need to worry too much as Rovereto’s level of player is out of the question. The only shame is not making the top 30 at the World Championships, which Rossetti entered instead, a factor that could be important in light of the next slalom, scheduled to take place on December 21 under the lights of the unprecedented night challenge in Courchevel. .