Milan Cortina, Elena Valt and the art of growing Olympic medals

Elena experienced it at the end of the track together with Mrs. Irene, Giovanni Franzoni’s mother, who rushed to Livigno the day after her son’s medal to enjoy the spectacle of snowboard. The two of them have known each other for years, given that Elena was one of the first coaches of ‘Gio’. And for him (and with him) he rejoiced after the splendid silver in the downhill in Bormio.

Mamma Dalmasso: “Stunning medal for Lucia”

Elena is calm and relaxed on the phone. Lucia’s sparkling and painful medal in the parallel giant slalom is relived with emotion: “It was a beautiful and exciting race, snowboarding is even more impressive because you can see it from start to finish“. Lucia, always supported by her father Pietro, never gave up even after the terrible injury twelve years ago. An accident that led her to change career, ‘transforming’ her from a promising skier to a successful snowboarder: “I’ll tell the truth, I haven’t really thought about the past and those moments. In our family we are used to looking ahead and Lucia also said so. This is a departure and the credit also goes to all the coaches who have accompanied her this far. There is no time to look back now.” The Olympic bronze was experienced together with Mrs. Irene, Giovanni Franzoni’s mother, who arrived in Livigno to enjoy Lucia’s race after her son’s silver in the downhill on Saturday: “At the end of the race we hugged each other, it was a beautiful moment. We cried together.”

The anecdote about Franzoni

Lucia and Giovanni know each other well: “But ‘Gio’ is a better friend than my son Giacomo, born in 2000. They grew up together and shared part of the journey.” There’s time for an anecdote: “Seeing him arrive at the finish line, with that speed, I thought back to a moment I experienced at the beginning. Once I made him and all the boys in the group go down a track at great speed. I was there to measure it. He and Giacomo reached the finish line at 132 kilometers per hour. Well, I relived that very moment.” There, in the time of the Allievi, the jet-man was born.