Olympics, Schladming slalom decides Italy’s last 7 places

One hundred and eleven names for an expedition of 118 athletes. In the list of the Azzurri for the Beijing Olympics released yesterday by Coni, seven athletes are missing, those of the men’s alpine skiing team. They will be released tonight, at a time that will depend on how the slalom in Schladming, Austria went.

A place in contention

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The fact is that the Kitzbuehel weekend did not remove the chestnuts from the fire of the director Max Rinaldi, on the contrary it added a few. Because if on the one hand the confirmation that was expected from the downhillers did not arrive, on the other hand the signal from Tommaso Sala that had been awaited for a long time arrived in slalom. And if a sixth place is not enough to get a ticket to China, it is also true that the three top 10s of Casse this season (best result the seventh place downhill in Val Gardena) and the two recent ones of Innerhofer, in Wengen (8 ° in super-G) and in Kitzbuehel (9th downhill) are not a guarantee, especially when Fisi asked for a fifth place as a minimum standard. And then, with Paris, Razzoli, Vinatzer, De Aliprandini (but how are you safe after the fall of Adelboden?) And Marsaglia, one last chance is granted to Tommaso Sala, as well as to Stefano Gross and Manfred Moelgg. To oust a sprinter from his flight to China, however, it will be necessary to get on the podium.

The American

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In the list of athletes published by Coni there is a surprising name. It’s that of Louis Philip “Louie” Vito III, 33, snowboarder, competing in the halfpipe. American from Ohio, he boasts an important curriculum in the pro ‘stars and stripes circuits, from the X Games (a bronze and a silver, in 2011 and 2014) to the Winter Dew Tour. He participated for the USA in Vancouver 2010, finishing fifth. He has already lived through his golden age but he keeps many sponsors. In the US team led by Shaun White he was closed, so a couple of years ago he asked Fisi if he could compete for the country of his ancestors, originally from Abruzzo. And now he is here, ready to amaze.