Teammate tragedy fueling home favorite Franzoni's tilt at Games glory

Giovanni Franzoni just won the "Super Bowl of skiing". Soon, he'll be chasing Olympic gold — on home snow, no less.

The breakout star of the Italian ski team, with the Milano-Cortina Winter Games opening next week, Franzoni is quickly coming to grips with his newfound status.

A victory in the downhill on the legendary Streif course in Kitzbuhel, Austria, over the weekend — the race described as skiing's Super Bowl — followed his first World Cup win a week earlier in Wengen, Switzerland.

Franzoni had never even been on the World Cup podium until he finished third in a super-G in Val Gardena last month.

"I didn't expect to be in this position," he said. "I knew I could do well, but there's a big difference between believing it and doing it. Now I'm trying to handle it all — the media attention, the physical part, the mental part … I just want to enjoy the Olympics. I know that I can do well, so I don't see any reason to heap expectations onto myself."

Franzoni, after all, isn't skiing just for himself.

He's also racing in memory of his former roommate and teammate, Matteo Franzoso, who died after a crash during preseason training in Chile in September that opened a debate on safety in the sport.

When Franzoni won in Kitzbuhel, he looked to up the sky on the winner's podium and dedicated the victory to Franzoso, with whom he had shared a room at the Austrian resort a year earlier on his first trip to the Hahnenkamm event.

"I made a promise to someone in paradise," Franzoni said.

"It's a mix of emotions that I have a hard time describing."

Odermatt in tears

Franzoni's victory Saturday relegated overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt to second place, and left the Swiss standout in tears on the podium after again failing to win the Kitzbuhel downhill.

"I was almost upset seeing him like that," Franzoni said.

"I understand how much he wanted to win that race and how many years he's been fighting for it. But I don't think it's a tragedy for him, considering all the races he's won."

Odermatt won the super-G in Kitzbuhel on Friday for a second year. But he's been racing in "Kitz" for eight years; whereas Franzoni won the Kitzbuhel downhill on his second try, at age 24.

Unlike many professional skiers, Franzoni did not grow up in the mountains. He comes from Manerba del Garda on the shore of Lake Garda near the city of Brescia.

But he and his twin brother, Alessandro, quickly took to skiing at nearby Ponte di Legno and Madonna di Campiglio.

While his brother eventually stopped competing and became a ski instructor instead, Giovanni showed his promise by claiming three golds, a silver and a bronze at the world junior championships in 2021 and 2022.

Franzoni's rise was slowed, though, when he had a season-ending fall during a super-G at Wengen in 2023 that resulted in thigh surgery.

Now he's catching back up to skiers like Franjo von Allmen, the Swiss racer who is the same age and won last year's downhill world title.

When Franzoni won gold in the downhill at the junior worlds in Panorama, British Columbia, in 2022, Von Allmen finished second.

Chasing the greats

While it's a three-hour drive away, Franzoni's hometown of Manerba is located in Lombardy, the same region as Bormio, where the men's skiing program at the Olympics will be contested.

Franzoni has never finished better than 17th in World Cup races held in Bormio, but he's clearly aiming for much higher now.

A victory in the men's downhill on the first full day of the Olympics, Feb 7, would make him the first Italian man to claim the prestigious honor since Zeno Colo took gold 74 years ago at the 1952 Oslo Games.

What's more, Franzoni can become just the fourth skier to win the Kitzbuhel and the Olympic downhill titles in the same year, joining Austrian greats Toni Sailer in 1956 and Franz Klammer in 1976, and Switzerland's defending Olympic champion from Beijing 2022, Beat Feuz.

Sinner the winner

As a junior racer, Franzoni was once beaten by tennis standout and former youth skier Jannik Sinner.

While they didn't know each other back then, Franzoni and Sinner recently got in touch.

"I wrote to him on Instagram after news of that old race came out. He complimented me and encouraged me a lot, and even gave me his phone number," Franzoni said. "The fact that he wrote back means I must have done something big."

Sinner won that 2009 giant slalom in San Sicario, while Franzoni finished 12th, four seconds behind.

Now, though, Sinner and Franzoni are both on top of their respective games.

Agencies Via Xinhua