“I felt guilty”: The story of Elisa Platino

Briefly discuss the most important points with the trainers, then retreat to the bedroom, browse the cell phone for a bit, listen to music and then fall asleep in peace. This is roughly what a professional skier's evening before a race looks like. Not that of Elisa Platino. The South Tyrolean has been on her own for the last two years. Although she drove for Italy, she received no help from the winter sports association FISI. Organizing trips, creating training opportunities, preparing skis: this and much more was a burden for the 23-year-old. “It’s funny when you’re standing in the ski room and you’re the only athlete,” she says, looking back. These are circumstances that sapped her strength and almost forced her to end her career.

“I have often come to the point where I said: This is my last season because it was simply no longer financially manageable,” admits Platino. “I felt guilty towards my parents.” She thought she was a burden – and so put immense pressure on herself to succeed. “My mother worked five jobs at the same time to make my dream possible. We often talked about whether I should still try it, whether it still made sense. I always felt my parents had my back, they always supported me, but at some point they reached their limits.”

Elisa Platino recently completed training with the Carabinieri. © Elisa Platino

Fortunately, Platino is now free of these worries. First she was called up to the national squad in the spring - after winning the Italian championship title in the giant slalom - before the best news came at the end of August. Platino, who had already applied for it twice before, made it into the Carabinieri sports group. “It would be an understatement to say I was relieved. It's simply indescribable. My passion, which has never faded despite all the opposition over the years, has become my profession.” A rapid rise For years, Elisa Platino's career went in only one direction: upwards. After three years in the state squad, she won the overall ranking of the Marlene Cup, South Tyrol's most important youth racing series, in 2018. In the same year she won the Gran Premio d'Italia, or GPI for short, in the giant slalom, which earned her a permanent place in the national team. After graduating from the sports high school in Mals, she took off and made her debut in the World Cup at the Kronplatz at the age of 20. She worked her way up from the C team to the B team and was ready for the next step. But then Corona came. After a season that didn't go as planned, "in which the whole group sank a bit", she was dropped from the national team in 2020. “The FISI cleaned up a bit back then, six of the eight athletes in our group were kicked out,” Platino remembers. The long journey back then began, which culminated on March 26th of this year.

The podium of the Italian Championships. © Arnoul Matteo

“I never in my life expected to win the Italian championship,” says Platino. “I was actually so happy with my season as I ended up in the points in every European Cup with one exception. This was a success, especially since I had only achieved this twice before. At the last race in Soldeu (Andorra) I made it into the top ten for the first time, but I felt pretty tired and exhausted.” It was all the more surprising for her that she left giant slalom luminaries like Marta Bassino and Federica Brignone behind her. Heavy preparation As a reward, she was brought back into the national team. Nevertheless, the preparation for the new season did not go as planned. “We have set a plan with the coaching staff. This placed the emphasis on dry training, especially since the trip to South America was scheduled for the end of August. “So I had a total of 18 days of skiing in June and July,” explains Platino, who was then not allowed to go to the training camp in Ushuaia. The reason: “In mid-August I received the news that I had been accepted by the Carabinieri and had to undergo six weeks of training in Turin. The South America trip was therefore cancelled.”

Although Platino only returned to snow in Senales Valley on Sunday, October 16th, she was called up for the World Cup opening in Sölden: “I was asked if I wanted to start. After careful consideration, we and the trainers decided to give it a try. Even though I'm obviously not at the start just to be there, taking part is a good way to determine where I stand.” The anticipation is great and she's trying to enjoy her first World Cup start in over three years.

She doesn't know what she's capable of because she's "more of an athlete who needs a lot of days of skiing to get in shape." That's also the reason why she achieves good results, especially at the end of the season. Platino, who describes herself as “very ambitious”, definitely wants to cut a good figure, establish herself in the European Cup over the course of the season and thus recommend herself for bigger tasks.

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“I felt guilty”: The story of Elisa Platino

Persistence is rewarded in sport. This phrase applies to hardly anyone better than Elisa Platino. Despite her young age, the 23-year-old from Merano has already experienced a lot in her skiing career - and told us her amazing story before the start of the World Cup in Sölden.

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