Italy’s Bertagnolli shows giant slalom form ahead of home Worlds

The close rivalry between Germany’s world and Paralympic champion Anna Schaffelhuber and Austria’s Claudia Loesch continued in the women’s sitting.

Teenager Giacomo Bertagnolli showed why he is one Italy’s brightest medal hopes for his home World Championships in Tarvisio in just over one month’s time, claiming his first World Cup win of the season in the men’s giant slalom visually impaired on Saturday (17 December).

The 17-year-old, guided by Fabrizio Casal, posted two leading runs to secure the top spot on the podium on the last day of action in Kuhtai, Austria. He cleared Slovakia’s Miroslav Haraus and guide Maros Hudik, who have won medals in technical events at the Paralympic and Worlds level, by 2.88 seconds.

Haraus’s Sochi 2014 Paralympics Winter Games silver medallist teammate Jakub Krako, guided by Branislav Brosman, was third.

Another youngster, Great Britain’s Millie Knight, took her first win of the season in the women’s visually impaired with guide Brett Wild. The 17-year-old World Championships silver medallist finished 0.75 seconds ahead of Australia’s Melissa Perrine, guided by Andrew Bor.

Slovakia’s Henrieta Farkasova, who won Friday’s (16 December) giant slalom, was third with guide Natalia Subrtova.

Germany’s World and Paralympic silver medallist Andrea Rothfuss took her second giant slalom win in 24 hours in the women’s standing. The German led the Canadian duo of Alana Ramsay and Erin Latimer into second and third respectively.

Ramsay and Latimer have also started off their season in great form, having also managed top three finishes in the slalom on Thursday (15 December), and in Friday’s giant slalom.

Australia’s Mitchell Gourley won his first World Cup race since 2013 in the men’s standing.

Gourley came back from a third placed first run to grab victory from Slovakia’s Martin France in second. The USA’s Thomas Walsh secured his 100 per cent podium record from Kuhtai in third.

The close rivalry between Germany’s world and Paralympic champion Anna Schaffelhuber and Austria’s Claudia Loesch continued in the women’s sitting.

Schaffelhuber did not finish her first run on Friday, leaving the door wide open for Loesch to seal the win. But on Saturday the German was determined to make up for lost time, registering two leading runs to push Loesch into second.

Anna-Lena Forster made it a German podium double with third.

Austria’s Roman Rabl went two-for-two in the men’s sitting, beating Japan’s 2013 world champion Taiki Morii by 0.66 seconds. Rabl had also delighted the home crowds on Friday by winning the first giant slalom.

Morii’s compatriot Takeshi Suzuki was the leader after the first run on Saturday, but dropped down the order to eventually end up third.

Full results are available at World Para Alpine Skiing’s website.

Skiers will now move onto the next World Cup in St. Moritz, Switzerland, which gets underway on Monday (19 December). Two more giant slalom and slalom races will be contested until 22 December.

Live results from all World Cups and the Tarvisio 2017 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships will be available.