Roberta Melesi surprises at the super-G in Crans-Montana and narrowly misses out on the podium. But the Italian is not allowed to take part in the Olympic Games in her home country - SRF expert Marc Berthod has little understanding for this.
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- The Italian Roberta Melesi surprisingly finishes 4th in the super-G in Crans-Montana, but has not been nominated for the Winter Olympics in Milan/Cortina.
- SRF expert Marc Berthod sharply criticizes the decision, as very young athletes without World Cup points were nominated instead.
- The non-nomination is causing discussion in Italy and raises questions about the fairness and performance orientation of the Olympic selection.
Malorie Blanc's surprising victory in Crans-Montana also caused a stir with other outsiders. For example, Breezy Johnson, who finished in third place with bib number 29. The American knocked Roberta Melesi off the podium. The Italian nevertheless achieved the best result of the season with her fourth place in the end.
However, as the selection for the Olympic Games has already been made, Melesi's 4th place is no longer of any use - she has not been called up for the Games by the Italian federation. This fact caused the SRF duo Marco Felder and expert Marc Berthod a lack of understanding even during the race.
Felder explained on live TV: "Melesi wasn't called up for the Olympics because very young athletes were preferred to her: There was quite a lot of discussion about that in Italy."
In fact, the Italian Olympic line-up has caused quite a stir because Giada d'Antonio (born in 2009) and Anna Trocker (2008) are two skiers who are considered to be great talents but have yet to score any World Cup points.
Berthod has a clear opinion on this: "You have to imagine that. From my point of view, it's not right." Although Berthod understands that Italy has a broader team in the speed area than in the technical disciplines, he states: "You have athletes who are in the top 15, have World Cup points and then you nominate any athletes - I find that special."
The fear of a second Colturi case
Felder, meanwhile, tries to explain the decision: "Yes, you want to make sure, especially in the case of d'Antonio, that there is no threat of a second case of Lara Colturi, that there is not suddenly a change of nation and you lose a great talent." Colturi, who is now a world-class skier, was also a great Italian skiing talent, felt she was not receiving enough support and switched to the Albanian federation as a consequence.
Because D'Antonio is a Colombian-Italian dual citizen, Felder explains: "She could of course also ski for Colombia and no stone is left unturned to keep this great talent happy. It's politics that's involved." Berthod replies: "But that's somehow the wrong approach."
