Matilde Lorenzi, the young Italian ski promise who fell yesterday during a training session on the Val Senales glacier in Alto Adige, has died. The news was reported in a post by the Ministry of Defense.
Matilde Lorenzi, born in Turin and resident in Sestriere, would have turned twenty on November 15. The Italian skier died in the hospital in Bolzano from injuries sustained on Monday in a fall during training on a slope in Val Senales. Sister of another skier, Lucrezia, Matilde was an athlete in the Army and a promising Italian skier, part of the Italian women's C team.
A specialist in speed disciplines, he stood out in downhill and especially in the super-G, where in the 2023/2024 season in Val Sarentino he won the Italian overall and youth title, beating Laura Pirovano, of the World Cup team.
In the same season, she participated in the Junior World Championships in Châtel, France, finishing fourth in the 'team event' and sixth in the downhill. Her debut in the European Cup dates back to 11 February 2021 in Santa Caterina di Valfurva, while her best placing was eleventh place in the super-G on 12 December last year in Sankt Moritz.
She had never competed in the World Cup, but was carefully followed by the Italian coaches, including Angelo Weiss, who had participated in the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer 1994 and Nagano 1998. Matilde had started skiing when she was in kindergarten, but she had many other interests and hobbies, including fashion, cooking, photography and crochet, the latter used to relieve tension before competitions.
An avid reader of novels, her great love was the mountains: “It’s a place where you feel free and you let yourself go,” she said. “I like it even without snow for running and cycling. When you see a very steep slope you think ‘mamma mia, do I really have to do it?’, but then it turns out to be fun, because skiing is always fun. It’s similar to painting, you always leave a trace.”
Article published on 29 October 2024 - 11:03
What sad news, the world of skiing loses a promising star. My condolences to Matilde's family and friends.