Nicol Delago combative: “I won’t let myself be stopped”

It all happened last Thursday, on the Azzurre speed team's fifth day of training after the long journey to summer training in southern Argentina. Nicol Delago was lucky in her misfortune: after her fall in the morning, she was taken to the hospital in Ushuaia for an initial examination, where X-rays confirmed a broken collarbone. That same afternoon, the 5-year-old caught a flight to Buenos Aires. Just a few hours later, Delago would have been stranded for several days due to a strike at Ushuaia airport.

As it was, she flew with light luggage (“my sister Nadia packed the bare essentials for me, because I couldn’t keep anything”) via Buenos Aires to Paris that same day and from there to Milan, where she was operated on last Friday, less than 24 hours later, at the La Madonnina clinic in the Lombardy metropolis.

Two weeks of absolute peace Specialists Gabriele Thiebat and Riccardo Accetta, together with FISI association doctor Andrea Panzeri, took care of the injured shoulder. "The operation took around two hours," explained Nicol Delago. The Val Gardena native only had to stay in hospital for one night, then she was allowed to travel home to Selva. There she will have to rest completely for the next two weeks, including no strength training for the lower limbs. "The callus, i.e. the bone tissue, has to regenerate. That takes time and even more patience," said Delago, looking ahead to the quiet period that lies ahead.

Climbed onto the podium twice last season: Nicol Delago © Pentaphoto

A time in which she has to learn to use her left hand more, especially for everyday things like brushing her teeth and eating. "No problem, that way I'm not only training my other arm, but also the other half of my brain," laughs Delago.

For the five-time World Cup podium finisher – she was third twice last year (Altenmarkt-Zauchensee and at the World Cup final in Saalbach) – the fall was relatively mild: "The ligaments are fine and the stitches will be out in two weeks. I hope that I can start rehab training straight away." But she doesn't want to go too far out on a limb: will she be taking part in the traditional autumn training in Copper Mountain in the US state of Colorado from November 2? "We'll see," she answers, cautiously but hopefully at the same time. “There’s no point in worrying about it for too long.” Nicol Delago Especially since she only trained for a few days in Ushuaia, and not a single one of them was a speed day. The intensive downhill and super-G training would only have been scheduled for these days. "I was only there for a few days because we only arrived in Ushuaia on September 6th. The plan was to stay until October 6th. It's a fact that I'm now losing important skiing days. But there's no point in worrying about it for too long," says Nicol Delago professionally.

And she doesn't complain that the excellent athletic preparation in the summer may have been for nothing: "That's not true. Training is never in vain," she says combatively. Especially since she also knows how to deal with serious injuries. In 2020, she tore her Achilles tendon during ski training in Sulden. That was in November, and as a result she missed the home Ski World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 2021. It is highly unlikely that she will miss a World Cup race or even the Ski World Championships this time.

The Speed World Cup season will kick off on December 14th and 15th with a downhill and super-G in Beaver Creek (USA). Before Christmas, there are two super-Gs in St. Moritz on December 21st and 22nd. The Speed World Cup season will only really heat up in January with three downhills and three super-Gs. So there is plenty of time to let the mishap on the right shoulder heal properly and then attack again.

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Nicol Delago combative: “I won’t let myself be stopped”

It happened during giant slalom training in Ushuaia. In a right-hand bend, Nicol Delago took off, did a forward roll and landed exactly on his right shoulder - with fatal consequences: a broken collarbone and an early return home.

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