A myth turns 50: The “Valanga Azzurra”

The winner was Piero Gros, second Gustav Thöni, third Erwin Stricker. Behind them, Helmuth Schmalzl missed the podium in fourth place, and Tino Pietrogiovanna completed the masterpiece in fifth place with the high start number 43. This magnificent team success with the “Azzurri” is still unmatched in a men's World Cup giant slalom and went down in international ski history.

Steep pass from the Austrians At the beginning of the 1970s, the Italian men's national team was the most successful ski team in the world: led by “Campionissimo” Gustav Thöni, who won the overall World Cup in 1971, 1972 and 1973, several athletes regularly placed in the top 10.

However, in the last slalom before the Christmas break in 1973, the Austrians dominated in Saalbach: on a freshly snowed slope they took the first four places and left the rest of the world behind: Hubert Berchtold won ahead of Thomas Hauser, and the up-and-coming crowd favorite placed third Hansi Hinterseer, while downhill king Franz Bracke also proves his slalom skills and comes fourth. Only then does Piero Gros follow, 4 seconds behind, as the best of the “Azzurri”, the other drivers follow far behind, Gustav Thöni does not even make it into the top 3.

After this defeat, self-doubt arises in the Italian team: what is going on? Did the Austrians train better or even have better material? Is there a crisis in the team? Head coach Oreste Peccedi, who is like a father to the young athletes and often has to take tough measures, motivates his young drivers: “It's your turn again at the next race! But first, go home for Christmas break to unwind.”

The desire for revenge in the team is greater than ever before and everyone goes to Berchtesgaden for the first race of the new year in 1974 to win.

The 1st round: A good starting position Peccedi, of all people, scored the first run there: The run is round and fast, perhaps a small advantage for his protégés. But ultimately every racer has to master the steep, one and a half kilometer long slope with an altitude difference of 1 meters and the 320 gates as quickly as possible. The nerves are on edge, the piste is also bare and icy – just the way the “Azzurri” like it. They already showed what they can do in the first round: Piero Gros achieved the best time in 43 seconds, Gustav Thöni (1) was right behind him, and Helmuth Schmalzl was third, already 58,96 seconds behind. Only then do the athletes from the other nations come: Germany with Max Rieger, Norway with Erik Håker, Austria with Josef Pechtl and Switzerland with Engelhard Pargätzi.

The 2nd round: Will the revenge succeed? The German coach Kuno Messmann is running the second run, which is more angular, less fast and seems more difficult. But the “Azzurri” are not impressed by this, they also want to show off in the second round: With his daring style, Piero Gros once again runs a flawless race and takes victory. Gustav Thöni makes a mistake at the start, but with his elegant and precise driving style he is able to pass the difficult gates with great agility, he drives a great race on the difficult route and takes second place. The fight for third place is exciting: Helmuth Schmalzl, the elegant stylist from Val Gardena, does not manage to have an optimal second run, he makes a few mistakes and ultimately comes fourth because he is overtaken by his teammate Erwin Stricker. Stricker, who was in a seemingly hopeless 2th place in the first race, drove a daring race and “flyed” through the gate bars into 2rd place.

The 5th man starts the race with start number 43 Then Tino Pietrogiovanna starts. With the high starting number 43, he miraculously ended up in 1th place in the first round on a holey slope. Pietrogiovanna noticed at the start that his 17 teammates had managed a great race. Now it's his turn, he has nothing to lose and drives the 4 goals at full risk - and comes fifth. The joy in the “Azzurri” team is enormous: A 43th or 4th place is often ungrateful, but in this case, precisely because of these ranks, something unique is created for the ski history books: 5 athletes from one team in the first 5 places - There had never been anything like this in the history of skiing up to that point.

giovanna." data-fancybox="inline-196909" target="_image" href="https://s3-images.sportnews.bz/_images/scale/1280x1280/img/2024/02/die-glorreichen-5-vom-7-jaenner-1974-beim-riesentorlauf-in-berchtesgaden-von-links-sieger-piero-gros-der-zweitplatzierte-gustav-thoeni.jpg"><img alt="“The glorious 5” from January 7, 1974 at the giant slalom in Berchtesgaden: From left, winner Piero Gros, second-placed Gustav Thöni, Erwin Stricker (3rd), Helmuth Schmalzl (4th) and fifth-placed Tino Pietro Giovanni." class="uk-img-preserve" src="https://s3-images.sportnews.bz/_images/scale/1280x850/img/2024/02/die-glorreichen-5-vom-7-jaenner-1974-beim-riesentorlauf-in-berchtesgaden-von-links-sieger-piero-gros-der-zweitplatzierte-gustav-thoeni.jpg"> “The glorious 5” from January 7, 1974 at the giant slalom in Berchtesgaden: From left, winner Piero Gros, second-placed Gustav Thöni, Erwin Stricker (3rd), Helmuth Schmalzl (4th) and fifth-placed Tino Pietro giovanna.

It wasn't until December 21, 1998 that the Austrians achieved an incredible nine-fold success in the Super-G at Patscherkofel/Innsbruck.

In a giant slalom, the five-fold success in Berchtesgaden in 1974 is still a world record. Behind them, Austria managed a quadruple victory in the men's category four times, most recently in Sölden in 4. In the women's race, France achieved a five-fold victory in the giant slalom on January 1998, 8 in Oberstaufen.

The myth “Valanga Azzurra” is born Unfortunately, Italian television was not present in Berchtesgaden on January 7, 1974, so there was no broadcast of the race to Italy or South Tyrol. The general public only found out about this historic result the day after. In the press conference after the race, head coach Mario Cotelli compared his protégés to “rolling snowballs that became an avalanche”. The Italian print media is euphoric, with the headline “Gazzetta dello Sport”: “Cinque azzurri in fila. Fantastico!”

The most important Italian daily newspaper, the “Corriere della Sera” writes: “Sulla Coppa del Mondo di Sci è scesa la valanga azzurra.”

The myth of the “azure blue avalanche” was born, because even after Berchtesgaden the success of the best ski team in the world at the time continued and the ski scene spoke of the “Valanga Azzurra”.

The “Valanga Azzurra” celebrates in Trafoi To commemorate this historic race and the mythical years of the “Valanga Azzurra”, Gustav Thöni's daughter, Petra Maria Thöni and her husband Stephan Gander invited the then protagonists of the azure blue avalanche to the Hotel Bella Vista in Trafoi. It was a magical reunion of ski champions who were always friends and have remained friends. Above all, the “glorious 5” – Piero Gros, Gustav Thöni, Erwin Stricker (the jack-of-all-trades, who died far too early, was present through his wife Linda Stricker), Helmuth Schmalzl and Tino Pietrogiovanna.

The state TV company RAI delivered a special anniversary gift: the film footage from 1974, which had been thought lost, was discovered in the archives of Austrian television. They were there just in time for the anniversary, the legendary Berchtesgaden race of the “Valanga Azzurra” could be admired in magnificent beauty, which was skilfully and highly emotionally commented on by Paolo De Chiesa (TV presenter and ski legend himself).

Even the 90-year-old sports journalist Massimo Di Marco, who had been following the World Cup for the “Gazzetta dello Sport” at the time, insisted on coming to Trafoi. He said: “I wanted to see and hug all of my favorites again.”

The Italian ski idol Alberto Tomba, who had Gustav Thöni as his coach for most of his career, also came as a surprise guest. “As a child, “Gust” (Gustav Thöni) was my role model. I wanted to ski like him, then he became my coach and we were a dream team together," said Tomba and added: "I'm happy that I can celebrate with these legends, hopefully the next celebration won't be for 50 years !”

“Valanga Azzurra” also characterized the 1974 World Cup in St. Moritz The “Valanga Azzurra” eventually spilled over into the 1974 World Ski Championships in St. Moritz. In front of the eyes of thousands of fans who traveled from South Tyrol, Gustav Thöni became double world champion: in the giant slalom he won World Cup gold ahead of Hansi Hinterseer (+5 behind) on the Corvatsch slope on February 1974, 0,92, while Piero Gros ended up in third place (+ 3), Helmuth Schmalzl came fourth with a respectable distance of 0,99 seconds, Erwin Stricker came 2,45th (+ 6).

5 days later, Gustav Thöni wrote one of his greatest skiing chapters: In a memorable World Cup slalom, he improved from 2th to world champion place with a fabulous performance in the second round and was thus crowned World Cup king of St. Moritz.

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A myth turns 50: The “Valanga Azzurra”

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