copravolley

It's a pity that now he will go to play in Siberia and we will not see much of him in ITA.

But I don't think that refused in any major tournament? Remind me when that was? Tzar, it was Tzar... With someone like that we would be one level higher than with the duo: Romano/Rychlicki.

He is still very far behind Ivan Zaitsev in his prime and that will probably not change.

I remember the 2011 European Championships and the matach Poland-Russia for a bronze medal match. Poland won, I think, 3-1, and someone from Russian players said, "A bronze medal is a worthless piece of a metal." I don't like that approach- every medal and every result should be respected, because in a few years later, such successes may only be a dream.

Italy had a much worse World Champions than Balsamo, e.g. Marta Bastianelli in 2007, do you still remember her?

These ciclist are from the same generation, so they can be compared they. Longo Borghini is on Kasia Niewiadoma's level- she won TDF in 2024, but they still a level under, for example, van Vleuten.

Fun fact: Italy and Bulgaria have played their first official match this season and tomorrow will play their last one. That first match took place in the regular season of the VNL in Canada on 11th June, when Italy won 3-1. https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/volleyball-nations-league/schedule/21440/

She's a great cyclist, but not a grand champion. It's not comparable to van Vleuten or van der Breggen in their prime, would you agree?

Sasak is a bit similiar to Romano in Italy – he will never be a dominant OPP, but more of a complement of the roster. Kurek was a dominant OPP, but a few years ago. I was sure he would leave NT after the 2024 OG silver medal. Previously, Wlazły was a very good and solid OPP in Poland NT, but that was over 10 years ago.

A little less money in rowing in Canada?

I remember he from the 2009 European Championships, when he made his debut at a major event. Poland's next problem will be when Leon retires, which I believe will happen no later than 2028, after the Olympics. I don't see any successors at the moment. Btw., Poland won the VNL with Sasak on OP, so I don't understand why Kurek was called up again if the system worked good in this season?

What`s about Poland? They have changed a lot over the past 3 years: from very pro-Ukraine to a fairly quite neutral country, from what I can see from the public mood there. Italy, of course, has always been quite pro-Russia, unfortunately.

Do you remember that around 2012/2013, Lviv wanted to host the Winter Olympics in 2022? It was realistic in that time? Where would be held the alpine skiing events, such as downhill and SG?

Personally, I would like a minimum of 20 medals, of which 7-8 gold, but much depends on the health of pur stars: Goggia and Brignone in alpine skiing. This would be our second-best result in history since 1994. Let's hope there's no repeat of Turin 2006, where the result was poor and the following years even worse. All the facilities from those Games are now closed or unused for sports competition.

The Italians missing a strong vice leader to escape (Malcotti was too weak) and Longo attacked several times, but she was under scrutiny and she's too weak to break away from her opponents and go solo. This has been a major problem since the beginning of her career. We have lost too many great talents who could have been important today: Cavalli (probably forever), Persico (she was going here, but she's been out of form all season and only helps Longo Borghini) etc.

Authority, knowledge, class + a great team of people around him (Barbolini, a doctor, even a physiotherapist- woman, in last year there was also Bernardi in our staff, but he left).

You have to beat the Czech Republic tomorrow and appreciate what you have- good bronze medal. I remember that 20-30 years ago in Poland, anyone would have killed for a World Championship bronze medal. Don't insult your opponents, who were clearly better than you today. So much for me.

Finora ha fatto un lavoro fantastico in Romania, ma è troppo presto per dire che sia il a coach migliore al mondo. Se riuscisse a ottenere un risultati simili anche qui, sarei d'accordo con te. Purtroppo, il nostro canottaggio è in stagnazione da Tokyo 2021 e non sarà facile.

Canada is probably having a year of century in summer sports – everything works good for them. The Italian team, without fire – Longo Borghini – will probably never win World Championship gold, but it must also be write that he's not Pogacar or someone like that, who would attack alone and finish solo. These tactical races are strange for women, but last year in the World Championships Longo was going for gold, but Vollering chasing her and finally Kopecky took the gold. Pagacar, when he attacks, is unstoppable and that's the difference between a great champion and a solid cyclist, like Longo, Niewiadoma, etc.

Italy's women's team faced a similar situation: Degradi was missing before tournament and Orro and Fahr were injured during the 1/2 final against Brazil, but we still won gold. Maybe this is a results, that Velasco is a much better coach than Grbic. For me Velasco currently outperforms every other coach by about two levels: Blengini and de Giorgi, too.

We had worse teams even in XXI century: 2008, 2012, 2021, etc. In the period of 2015-2021, everything depended on Zaitsev and Juantorena: that was the Blengini era and it's great that he's now make a success in Bulgaria. Everyone is happy: Italy and Bulgaria

Nel 8 perderemo sempre contro: Regno Unito, Stati Uniti, Paesi Bassi, Australia e Germania (qui era fuori dalla finale, ma tornerà). Non c'è alcun possibilità di vincere una medaglia, e spero che il nostro staff lo capisca. È meglio creare un forte: M4- + M2- e competere su serio per medaglie che avanzare alle Olimpiadi con l'otto e finire 6/7, come l'ultima volta.

Ad oggi, abbiamo 32 medaglie quest'estate, di cui 8 d'oro. Probabilmente otterremo una medaglia di bronzo nella pallavolo questo fine settimana, e forse una medaglia Longo Borghini, ma non è una cosa certa. Per ora, 40 medaglie entro la fine dell'anno sarebbero un successo (non so come calcolare il tennis e il secondo posto nella classifica Sinner).

Secondo me, non ha senso puntare sull'8 nel canottaggio, perché lì non vinceremo mai una medaglia. Nel complesso, l'intera prestazione è stata non ottima, a parte un ottimo M4X. Due medaglie erano d'obbligo, considerando che anche Polonia e Romania ne hanno più di una qui. Speravo in molto di più dopo il lavoro svolto dalla nostro nuovo Staff technico con la Romania in passato. Ad oggi, è peggio che a tempo di Cattaneo (abbiamo perso la medaglia d'oro contro l'Olanda in Parigi, che non c'è qui). È una grande delusione. A mio parere, l'intero ciclo di 2016-2021 nel finale in Tokio è stata un grande successo, poi è iniziata la discesa (ora la categoria pesi leggeri è stata rimossa e peggiorando ulteriormente la nostra situazione). Se i Paesi Bassi tornano all'M4X, ci sarà un'altra lotta, forse per l'argento, e quella sarà la nostra unica medaglia, perché non vedo altre possibilità: la squadra femminile è praticamente inesistente, tranne una: Meriano-Codato. Al momento la situazione non sembra rosea.

I hope Finn will have a bigger career than Matej... https://www.instagram.com/p/DPE-yqVAORw/