Malagò does not close in Cesana: ‘Track in Italy? Yes, but the Government must sign

Claudio Lenzi-Valerio Piccioni

November 7
– Milan

Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani had said it explicitly when relaunching Cesana’s Italian solution for the bobsled track despite the IOC’s position increasingly in favor of organizing the races in Switzerland or Austria: “We count a lot on the prestige of Giovanni Malagò”. And yesterday the president of CONI, IOC member and president of the Milan-Cortina Foundation, took stock of the situation by choosing the path of realism: “Where it is demonstrated in a clear and official way that for the date for which the IOC and the federations internationals claim that the track is ready, if there was one in Italy that exists today and could become “working” shortly, then I would be the first to try to support this candidacy”. However, establishing the indispensable condition to run in this direction: “You need a piece of paper signed by the Italian government with which it undertakes to respect dates and feasibility”.

Alternatives

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In short, it is around this “piece of paper” that the game is played. A “piece of paper” worth 33.8 million euros, the estimated cost to revive the Cesana in Turin 2006. And which however will have to make another commitment in addition to the economic one: to make the track “working” no later than March 2025, the deadline for the test event which traditionally represents the testing of the Olympic site in view of the 2026 Games. The two requirements cannot be circumvented. Otherwise, Malagò invites us not to demonize the Swiss alternative (St. Moritz), the favorite, or the Austrian one (Igls, where from today, in the absence of Italian solutions, the World Cup and junior luge teams are in retreat directed by Armin Zoeggeler): “It wouldn’t be a scandal. We are moving towards an era in which new candidatures, even in other sports disciplines, will take into account that they are no longer just in one country”.

Cesana

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But where are we at? First of all, the president of Piedmont, Alberto Cirio, responds: “We are working, the position of the IOC is known, it does not belong to a state but has the sole objective of seeing things done with certainty therefore it says what it would say anyone, that is, that an existing thing gives more guarantees than one that has yet to be done”. There would be space: “We are confident that 90 days for the design and 365 for the adaptation of the runway are the times in which we will be able to complete the work.” It is likely that in these 15 days, perhaps even less, everything will have to be understood. “The Italian government – concludes Cirio – has given us through Simico (the Milan-Cortina infrastructure agency) a letter of assignment with 6-7 questions on which the technicians are working. It is proof that we are moving forward.”

Money

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The problem, however, is not just one of political will. It is also resourceful. Precisely in the weeks in which we are working on a painful budget law, every new expense is greeted with a bit of concern, even within the majority. The Veneto issue remains open, with president Luca Zaia who yesterday, on the sidelines of the Confindustria Belluno assembly, confirmed his opposition to the transfer of regional Olympic funding, hoping that the Milan-Cortina foundation will find “a solution for the distribution of races to compensate for the absence of bobsleigh, skeleton and luge in Cortina”. Furthermore, there is another open front, that of the transfer of the anti-doping laboratory which must find a new location in Rome so as not to lose not only the anti-doping analyzes of the 2026 Olympics but the very survival of the structure. And resources are needed here too and Malagò also underlined this yesterday: “It all depends on the Italian government”.