copravolley

In the knockout phase everything went back to normal: one Pellegrino in the semi-finals and the rest out. What`s worse Pellegrino is no longer in such great shape and does not stand on the podium anymore. I don`t see any hope. Everything has been based on one Pellegrino for 15 years Other teams are introducing young players: USA, Switzerland, USA and we haven`t been able to stand on the podium in the women's team since 2011... Let Cassol stand on the podium 1-2 times at the beginning, even in 3rd place, then we can have hope. In alpine skiing it's the same, there's the great Brignone at 34, then Bassino around 30 and then there's the problem of advancing to 30. Look at the results of today's giant slalom.

It's true, but Colturi still only 1 person and for example in the men's slalom we have tragic results. In giant slalom again we last won many years ago. For example, Switzerland has a complete team, which has not only stars but also wide teams in every discipline + young successors. Scattolo is an option after 2026. For now, all that remains is to count on Vittozzi's return - apart from her, no one is able to regularly stand on the podium.

Alpine skiing also we have a lot of problems: the men's team is very weak and has been winning a few podiums a season for several years and the our best skier- Dominik Paris is 35. We still have a strong women's team but 3 of the 4 leaders are over 30 (Goggia, Brignone, Curtoni) and Bassino is 28. Another 2 years and we will have the same problem as the men's. There is basically no cross-country skiing without Pellegrino for many years, biathlon is based on 2 individuals with one of them has a 35 years. Vittozzi's injury was enough and we haven`t a single podium this season after 3 stages of the World Cup. As for 1 year to the home games the situation isn`t optimistic.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/lisa_vittozzi/ Come back Lisa and save our season in World Championship.

Bella ragazza

Today maybe there was poor wax servic, but Auchentaller loses in every race at the end, when younger competitors: Grotian, Richard, etc. are already running much faster. Vittozzi is 29 years old but unfortunately she got injured in November - if she recovers, she will still have a big chance for medals. Unfortunately, Wierer can only be a complement to relay teams.

The truth is that the entire Italian biathlon depends on one Vittozzi, who is not sure if she will return this season and her form is also questionable, because the rest of the Italian team is running poorly. Wierer is old and will never win again - she is running weaker and weaker and what is worse: she is shooting poorly. The rest of our team is running too weakly to count on any successes in the future. I don`t believe that Auchentaller or Comola will suddenly make a big progress in the run track, e.g. to the top 10, since the young French women are already much faster than them.

Auchentaller runs poorly, and her last rounds are awful - generally all Italian women have a problem with fitness and this is probably the problem of poor preparation before the season. If you don't run in the top 10, you can forget about successes apart from one individual race. Wierer and Vittozzi always ran in the top 10 during their prime. I don't see such potential in Auchentaller. Generally, both in biathlon and cross-country skiing Italian teams aren`t able to train a few good runners for many years and this is probably a systemic problem - look at France, for example: how many good runners have they been able to train in biathlon in recent years...

In basketball, after Banchero's refusal, they also can`t find anyone else when other countries naturalize players from the USA. The basketball and hockey federations are functioning terribly.

You know how slowly everything works in Italy, for example Antropova had to wait many months for a passport in 2023... Btw., those oriundi who currently play for us are weak - the best is probably Larkin but he is no star either. It would be useful to call up better players but there is very little time.

In any case, Fisi received slightly less money and the closer to Cortina the budget should grow...

If Vittozzi doesn't come back in January in Oberhof, she'll probably miss all the season, which means we could be left without any podiums in the World Cup + World Championships in this season. (Even if she does come back her form and competitiveness are of course a mystery). Wierer is too inconsistent and too weak in running form to stand on the podium (except in the individual run but she'd have to shoot cleanly) and the rest of the women's team is still just a supplement to the line-up. The men's team has seen a big regression this season.

And what kind of hockey players with Italian roots playing in the NHL do you mean? Isn't there already too little time for that? In addition the team has to get along and it looks like these people would meet for the first time just before the 2026 Olympics... In both cases there will be a big defeat.

I checked Hungary's results at the 21st century Summer Olympics and they had a terrible result in 2008: 10 medals and only 3 gold. Maybe you remember what caused this collapse? Btw., I saw lately a few polls recently where Tisza's party was leading in the polls in Hungary. Do you think a change of power is possible in your country?

Winter sports also include ice sports: hockey, skating, curling? I don't understand how you can cut the minimum funds for winter sports 1 year before the home games? Such miracles are only possible in Italy...

But overall it sounds like a perfect system - perhaps each country would have to make some adjustments due to its specificity and geographical conditions.

OK, but for example you have teams in cross-country skiing or alpine skiing and analyzing it coolly, it would be more profitable to invest everything in skeleton and short track from winter sports.

I've heard about this lottery, but still, for example, the prestige of studying at Harvard and becoming, for example, a doctor or lawyer in the US + potential earnings are higher than a difficult sports career. It's always a matter of priorities. From what I see the Netherlands copied this idea with the lottery from the UK (the NL team also has the logo with the local lottery on their shirts)? I`m also curious why, if this idea with the lottery is so great in the UK and the Netherlands, other countries do not copy this model, e.g. Germany, which on paper should win the most medals from Europe at the Olympic Games - recently they won less than the Netherlands!!!

You'd have to ask some of the UK and Dutch users here how their nations deal with this problem, if anyone knows? Because clearly those 2 countries are doing the best in Europe and probably don't experience such an exodus of their best young rowing athletes to US universities (Germany has also been experiencing a crisis in this sport in recent years).

I think that nowadays people can play sports, e.g. with defibrillators, so it's not a big problem and in her case the disease is probably not that serious. For her, it may even be better that it happened now rather than during the Olympic season, even if she had to miss a large part of the season.

Objectively assessing Paris 2024 was a great success for France in terms of sports - great progress in terms of medals, including gold, compared to previous editions in the 21st century. Now you will have the Winter Games in 2030 and I`m sure you will be ready. You still have a lot of time. You will certainly not be in such a terrible situation as we are 1 year before our Games in 2026 (I have the right to expect the worst after what I saw in 2006). I don`t want to get into politics but I think that someone like Macron is a great president in terms of the development of sports - you can see that he loves sports and is very interested in them (it is thanks to him that France got the Winter Games in 2030).

Vittozzi or Tandrevold?

I think that in Italy she wouldn't even get the chance to start in the World Cup in her condition. We have much more restrictive regulations than other countries, which has its advantages and disadvantages. In her case, it would probably be better to stop for a while, instead of starting and withdrawing.

Vittozzi will not return until the New Year. This definitely means the end of her chances to defend the World Cup. This season has started badly for us and the absence of Vittozzi only intensifies this impression. Only Wierer's improving form is some kind of positive. https://www.fondoitalia.it/2024/12/09/notizie/argomenti/biathlon/articolo/biathlon-lisa-vittozzi-non-rientra-lazzurra-salta-anche-hochfilzen.html

Assad hasn`t had support in his country for many years - he was saved by Russia 10 years ago. The prolonged war in Ukraine meant that Putin had to withdraw his troops from Syria and abandon his former ally. I think that Assad can only hold a grudge against Putin. By the way the regime in Syria turned out to be just as weak as the Afghan government supported by the US in Kabul. Both regimes fell very quickly without the help of foreign powers. So what can be written? Should I feel sorry for the dictator Assad because he was so weak that he fell without Putin's help? I don't care. In the case of refugees, they will probably have to go through Turkey, so Erdogan can block them - probably for the right money from the EU.