Giada D'Antonio is causing a sensation in her very first professional season. The 16-year-old from southern Italy is making her World Cup debut in the slalom at Semmering - and gaining her first experience with the "big boys".
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- Giada D'Antonio is a new star in the skiing firmament.
- The Italian is making her World Cup debut in the slalom at Semmering.
- But the 16-year-old still has to wait for her first points. D'Antonio does not finish her run.
On November 19, Giada D'Antonio caused a big surprise on the Schilthorn. In her very first professional outing, the Italian with bib number 82 won a FIS slalom - a small skiing fairytale.
With this victory, she prevented a Swiss 12-fold success. D'Antonio showed impressively that her triumph was no coincidence just one day later: with bib number 63, she took victory again, this time ahead of 13 Swiss women.
Her meteoric rise continued in the weeks that followed. Within a month, D'Antonio traveled to the USA, where she competed in the Nor-Am Cup, the counterpart to the European Cup, in Copper Mountain. In two giant slaloms, she finished 11th and 13th - again from very far back.
First experience in the World Cup
"Things are developing very quickly for me at the moment, I didn't think I would be selected for the races in the USA," D'Antonio recently told blue News.
The Italian Winter Sports Federation "FISI" has nominated D'Antonio for the slalom in Semmering. This means she skips the European Cup completely and competes directly with the best racers in the world.
She will start the race on Sunday with bib number 70 - and wants to show the skiing world her skills on the big stage for the first time. However, this is anything but easy on the badly battered slope. Before her, 34 (!) skiers - almost half - have already failed to finish their run.
And D'Antonio has the same fate. Although she kept up relatively well in the first two intermediate times, after 30 seconds she was no longer able to stay in the race and dropped out. Nevertheless, her family in the finish area smiles proudly.
The path from Vesuvius to the Ski World Cup
D'Antonio's story is also particularly remarkable in view of her origins. D'Antonio was born in Naples, the daughter of an Italian dentist and a Colombian-Ecuadorian mother.
Today she lives in San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, and competes for the Vesuvio Ski Club. The path from the volcano to the Ski World Cup is unusual - and yet it all started quite simply: "When I was very little, I started skiing with my father, it was always a hobby of his," the 16-year-old told blue News.
So far, D'Antonio has made a name for herself as a technical specialist and has only competed in slalom and giant slalom. But she is already looking further ahead: "At the moment I am concentrating on these two, but I think that in the future I could try to compete in several disciplines to become more versatile."
