Platino & Unterholzner: Two who have to fight it out

Even more than Petra Unterholzner, Elisa Platino's situation can be compared to that of Vera Tschurtschenthaler. Like the 2019 Italian slalom champion, she is neither part of the national team nor a sports group and has to finance her ski career herself. Elisa Platino (23) starts for the Carabinieri sports group, but she is not employed there and is only allowed to train. Your coaches at the Carabinieri are Patrick Thaler and Hannes Paul Schmid. “We are a nice group,” she asserts.

The Merano native from Obermais doubts that this Italian championship title will now open the doors for her with the Carabinieri or another sports group and cites the example of Vera Tschurtschenthaler, for whom this was not the case. She doesn't know how long she can continue to practice her sport under these conditions. Without the support of the family it would be impossible anyway. She has to pay for everything herself and works as a nanny in the summer. She only receives financial support from a funding program run by the state of South Tyrol and from Sporthilfe. She doesn't have a main sponsor, but perhaps potential sponsors have now become aware of her. World Cup debut at Kronplatz She always had a difficult time in the national team. In the 2018/19 season she was placed in the C group, together with Petra Unterholzner. Both had won the “Gran Premio Italia” (Platino in the giant slalom, Unterholzner in the slalom). Victory in this racing series entitles you to join the national team. A year later, Elisa Platino was promoted to the European Cup team. But although she made her World Cup debut at Kronplatz in January 2019 (it is her only World Cup start so far), she was kicked out of the national team at the end of the season. “We all did poorly in the European Cup that season,” she cautiously points out that it might not have been her fault alone.

This winter she took part in the giant slalom in the European Cup, but at her own expense. In 9 races she was in the points 8 times and was eliminated once. Your second discipline would actually be the Super-G. “But I fell while training at Gitschberg on New Year’s Eve and had a concussion. “So I put my long skis in the corner for the rest of the season,” she says. Italian champion Petra Unterholzner, flanked by Lucrezia Lorenzi and Vera Tschurtschenthaler (r.).

In contrast to Elisa Platino, Petra Unterholzner (22) was lucky enough to be accepted into a sports group. She is with the “Fiamme Azzurre”, which is the prison police. She is the only female ski racer there. That's why she's allowed to train with the financial guard. Roberto Griot and Christian Deville were their coaches there this season. “I always drove well in training, but I almost never showed that in the race. “It was probably a mental matter,” she says. At the Italian Championships, of all places, she managed to put her doubts aside. “I was relaxed and didn't get nervous even after taking the lead in the first run. Before the second run I decided to simply ride as best I could. And I managed to do that.”

Petra Unterholzner comes from Kuppelwies in Ulten and still lives there on a farm near the ski slopes. Like Elisa Platino, she was already in the national team and competed in her first European Cup races in December 2018, but at the end of the 2020/21 season she was also kicked out of the national team. Petra Unterholzner is a pure slalom specialist. Sometimes she would also like to practice giant slalom because: “Constant pole riding makes your head tired.”

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Platino & Unterholzner: Two who have to fight it out

The careers of the Italian champions Elisa Platino and Petra Unterholzner show some parallels. Now both have made a big statement and become Italian ski champions, even though they are not part of the national team. With Platino, it's a miracle that she hasn't stopped long ago.

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