copravolley

There's no point in cheating, these were terrible European Championships for us. Retronaz out of form, Constantini with a huge number of big mistakes. Only illness can excuse it... We've probably lost the last 10 matches with Switzerland... It looks like Constantini had the tournament of her life in mixed doubles in 2022 in Beijing and she will never reach this level again.

What good is it to us if we took 4th place and lost an important match? If Constantini was sick, I forgive her, but I'm afraid that the Italian team will not exceed a certain level. Yes, they have made progress since 2022, but they lack that one decisive step to become a class team. Here we lost all important matches with teams at our/higher level: Sui x2, Sco x2, Swe. We only won with the one we were supposed to win with. I don't believe in a medal for this team in Cortina. After 2022, it seemed that Constantini could dominate women's curling, but it didn't happen that way. After Sinner's recent successes, I opened my eyes a bit and started to demand more from our athletes, coaches, and officials. I have no intention of being satisfied with 4th place, because with this approach, you won't achieve anything great.

Looking at the dry result, it doesn't look good.

Maybe it`s a bot?

Sindo, are you a big Meloni supporter or what?

Wtf? My messages is missing

I'm having a bad day and I don't want to watch this. Only a decisive victory for Ghiotto tomorrow can reassure me that these 2026 games won't be a complete failure.

https://www.fantaski.it/news/2024/11/22/tommaso-sala-si-rompe-il-crociato-in-allenamento.asp Now the entire Italian team will be hanging on Vinatzer, who will finish maybe 30% of the races in the season. Tragedy. Sala was not an outstanding skier, but he could have made it to the top 10 several times. The biggest debacle in slalom in decades is coming This winter seasons haven't even started yet but I'm fed up with him. We have regression in every discipline, Vittozzi disease, disaster in men`s alpine skiing, what else? Unfortunately, we have been much better in summer sports than in winter sports recently.

When? I understand this is a joke about this great job

The same thing happened after Turin 2006. That hall later was never used for skating competitions again, only the Indoor ECH in athletics was organized there once in 2009 and that was it. After that it was only used for commercial fairs etc. It will be the same with Milan. Regarding the indoor arena in Collalbo, it was a great idea to make it an Italian center of skating sports for many years: good location, high altitude, tourist town. Well, but according to the organizers, it`s not worth doing it, but why? Why is`t not worth doing anything here but Germany has a similar track in Inzell and it is possible there? They should hire a good manager who will develop a plan for them to make it worth doing. The same is with the bobsleigh track in Cortina. It was also not worth renovating it and if Salvini's and other big politics and determination hadn`t come into it, the competition would probably have been in Austria or St. Moritz. The cooperation with the Netherlands is probably only supposed to concern short track. Besides, this cooperation will not do anything if we don`t have at least one indoor track for training in the summer and early autumn. The Dutch Federation isn`t a charity and will not build us infrastructure for free so that we can train on it. There are no miracles. It`s probably more about taking advantage of the opportunity to train with someone like Fontana, who is a legend in short track. After 2026 this cooperation will end, when she leaves.

For Ghiotto to win 2 golds at the Olympics, he would have to be the second van der Poel or Sablikova in they pick of form. You have to be a genius to beat this whole coalition of Norwegians, Dutchmen etc. However, I don't see that much talent in him. I'd like to be wrong, but I'm afraid that he'll end up with some silver-bronze in the 10 km and that's it. If he starts losing to Eitrem now, who is 22 years old, it won't bode well for the future, and there's also Roest + maybe another Dutchman will jump out. Generally, our team is poorly prepared for this season and it's not like Ghiotto is on individual training on the moon and has just come down to earth and will now win everything while the rest of the team are in terrible form. Of course, the lack of form of Bosa or Trentini means e.g. 20th place, not 10th, but for Ghiotto it could mean 4/5 place, instead of 1st. It's the same with the team. For today, the only positive performance for us is Lollobrigida's 2nd place in the b category of the women's 1500 meters and Fontana's solid performance in the same event. The rest is terrible.

Besides, I think Eitrem will be better than Ghiotto. You can see it after 1500 meters. He is younger. The whole Norwegian team is also in great shape. You just have to look at the team Norway has, how many new and young skaters there are and in our group A there is one Trentini, who takes last place. In every winter sport we invest too little money to be counted. If Eitrem has the same form over long distances as he does over 1500 metres, he will dominate this season, not Ghiotto or Roest.

Looking at last season's 1st World Cup, it's worse for now and it should be the other way around. Bosa out of shape, Trentini weak. Both will drop to a lower group. It's similar to skeleton, i.e. regression instead of progress. I hope this doesn't mean Ghiotto is also in weaker form, because it could end up with 0 podiums this weekend.

In general, our picture for a little over 1 year until the home games looks like this: - the women's sector is still based on one Lollo, who is 3 years older than 2022, - the women's and men's sprint sector is based on one Bosa and possibly the young Pergher (0% possobility for medal in 2026), - Ghiotto has made a lot of progress and that is a big plus. He could result to give our even 3 medals, including 1/2 gold. Our team's performance also depends to a large extent on Ghiotto's form, - the rest of the men's team is basically unchanged. There is Giovannoni in the mass start, there is Malfatti in the longer distances, but they are not competitors on the podium of a major event. I will repeat myself: if Ghiotto continues to make such progress, we will probably win 3 medals, 2 of which gold and it will be a success. If something doesn`t work out, an injury, illness, etc. (we know from Vitozzi that this can happen to anyone), then it could be very bad. By the way, this also applies to other sports: the above-mentioned Vitozzi in biathlon, Goggia in downhill, Brignone in giant slalom, etc.

Today is a day without Italians in the leads positions. I`m worried that they are not trying to revive this our sprint. There is only one Bosa and he is old. Pergher is young but she is also only one. It is a pity. After the Olympics they will probably 100% give up on the entire sprint. Our medal bag in Cortina will depend 90% on Ghiotto, just like it did on Fabris in Turin 2006. If Ghiotto will be in goodshape, he can even win 2 individual golds + a team medal. If not, it will be a flop. Apart from him, only Lollobrigida can compete in the mass start and possibly Giovannini in the men's mass start.

2-1. But it's good to have a great champion in the squad. I've been waiting for this my whole life. I wish we had such stars in every sport.

Argentina has a really solid lineup, especially if they have prepared seriously for this event. Of course they don't have a champion like we do, but in this format it is enough to win 1 match to play the decisive doubles.

Today we must to beat Argentina. It looks like Sinner will have to win all the singles and doubles for us to defend the title. So far, the 2nd and 3rd favorites before the tournament have already been eliminated: Esp and USA.

Fewer people do do this sport compared to the 90s, less money is spent on it, etc. In the case of women, at some point this sport was almost abandoned because of the belief that it was impossible to beat Scandinavia ( the times of Norwegian domination with Bjoergen and Johaug at the forefront). Only in the last 2 years has Markus Cramer been hired, who is gradually rebuilding the men's and women's teams. Suffice it to say that the last medalist of the World Championships for Italy in the women's was Arianna Follis in 2011... I will also remind you that in 2022 Pellegrino and de Fabiani trained with the Russian team, because the rest of the Italian team was in such poor shape that they couldn`t train together

Appetite grows with eating. Especially since it's not like we develop in every winter sport... For example, 20 years ago we were a powerhouse in cross-country skiing and now we have only 1 Pellegrino (34 age) and a few talented youngsters. And let's remember that our performance in Turin was objectively weak for us: only 11 medals in total. Now, when I hear that we will to win 2O+, some discipline must definitely add medals and also compensate for the losses in cross-country skiing, for example.

The problem is that this mixed team has never played together since then. There was talk of personal obstacles. I don't know how it`s now.

She had health problems yesterday. Nevertheless, after the gold in mixed doubles with Mosaner in 2022, I counted a bit more on her development. I still think that the biggest chance for us in 2026 will be the mixed team, rather than our teams.

I don't know who Italy should field for the doubles? Sinner has the greatest individual strength but he probably doesn't train with anyone on the team. Last year Sinner played 2 doubles with Sonego in the Davis Cup (two wins) but this year Sonego isn`t in the squad. On the other hand the Bolelli-Vavassori doubles are well-coordinated, as is the Argentine one, but individually these players don't even mean as much as Sinner's 1 hand. For me the Sinner/Berettini option is possible but the question is: did they train together on last day?

Only the girls' gold can sweeten Retronaz's defeat for me.

There are currently no grounds to consider Ghiotto as a favourite for the 5000. He has never won any important 5000 event while dominating the 10 km at the same time. Roest always won the same pattern, with Ghiotto losing all his advantage in the last 2 laps. We will see what the Italian's form will be like now and how tactically he wants to play it. I would also not forget about Eitrem from Norway, who is much younger from these two and has a lot of room for development.