Bassino: “My moment has finally come”

What a day for Italy's ski ladies. Marta Bassino achieved her first downhill victory in Crans Montana (Switzerland) and Federica Brignone came second. This was followed by further successes. Accordingly, the Azzurre were extremely happy.

17. February 2024

From: do

Marta Bassino has already celebrated a World Cup victory in giant slalom six times, and last year she became world champion in Super-G, but the Azzurra was still missing a triumph in the supreme discipline of alpine skiing, downhill – until this Saturday. The 27-year-old drove away from everyone in Crans Montana and celebrated her first victory in the fastest discipline, ahead of her compatriot Federica Brignone. Bassino was overjoyed after her monster ride in the Swiss Alps.

“I didn't expect to win the downhill, but I always believed in myself. It's my first victory in the downhill: the low start number certainly helped, but I'm really happy because I always believed in it and worked for it: my moment has finally come," said the Azzurra after her victory.

Federica Brignone (left) hearts Marta Bassino (right). © APA/afp / FABRICE COFFRINI

After a rather mixed season, the sun finally shone again for Bassino in Switzerland: “It's nice to be at the top again in a season in which important results were missing. Today I did everything right and made the difference. It wasn't easy to cope with the last few months, but I always exercised patience because I knew that everything would go back to normal."

Federica Brignone, who has already won four times in Crans Montana, stormed into second place: “I'm happy, I did what I could”. The 2-year-old also had words of praise for her teammate: “Marta was perfect, but I’m proud of what I did. It’s a shame for Laura Pirovano, it would have been nice to be on the podium together.”

Just missed the podium: Laura Pirovano © ANSA / ALESSANDRO DELLA VALLE

Brignone spoke about the equally fantastic performance of Laura Pirovano, who finished fifth. The Trentino native, who missed the podium by just a few hundredths, was happy with her performance, but struggled with the conditions: “I'm happy that I'm so far ahead, but it's a bit of a shame that there was a little too much snow at the end has subsided.”

Runggaldier can also be happy

Teresa Runggaldier from Wolkenstein rounded off Azzurre's successful Saturday with the best World Cup result of her career (11th place): “I'm very happy, I didn't think it would go so well. I watched the Bassino and Brignone races on TV and tried to do my best”.