An amazing silver in the team sprint with Federico Pellegrino and a lot of bad luck for Francesco De Fabiani in the world championships expedition at Planica in Slovenia.
Planica, Slovenia – Mar. 06th, 2023 • It’s a wrap with a splendid silver in the Team Sprint paired with the teammate Federico Pellegrino the Slovenian trip to the bearer of the Centro Sportivo Esercito of Courmayeur.
Four races by Defast, all chosen in order to sip the energies to never go beyond his own possibilities. No skiathlon, no 15 km: judging by the form condition, De Fabiani chose very well, bringing home the best experience at the world championships ever.
Better than Seefeld, where he got a bronze with Chicco Pellegrino in the Team Sprint. The medal collection would have been even more different, if at the start line had not participated also another contender: the bad luck.
After a good Sprint in classic technique and a fantastic, silver-plated, Team Sprint with the always performing Pellegrino, here it is, the bad luck, capable of ruining the dreams, causing a fall and a pole crack to Dietmar Nöckler, whilst in the first fraction of the relay, and then conclude the masterpiece (bad luck) with the breakdown of one of De Fabiani’s skis in the second fraction. Relay compromised, period.
That's all? No, it’s not enough. In the final 50 km Defast, the master of the classic technique and mass starts, wakes up sick, so much so that he thought to miss the start. But the 50 km deserves respect and so here he goes! Almost 50 km amongst the world’s best. Almost, because a few kilometers from the end the pole of Francesco got broken in a contact with the ski of Poromaa: bye-bye Worlds’ dreams and eleventh place in the ranking of the ski marathon.
These are De Fabiani's final minutes: «It was a beautiful world championship, very positive for me. If they had told me I would take a silver, I would have blindly signed. The Team Sprint gave me the second world medal and is worth a lot. I am happy with my form, always consistent. I made my debut with a good Sprint, closing in the 20, I dreamed in the relay, but bad luck took us away from the games. The 50 km was the last race and I wanted to close with an acute. Surely, I would have done better not breaking the pole, but honestly, I don't know if I could get on the podium: they were very strong ahead. Pretty sorry for the inconvenience, but actually I am more embittered for the relay because we really wanted to do well, given also the victory in Toblach».
Now for Francesco a short period of rest «I won’t go to Oslo for the 50 km – adds the cross-country skier – because I am quite sick and I cannot compromise the season finale, but I don't want to miss Falun and Lahti, since there’s still a good chance to do well in Scandinavia».
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Press Office of Francesco De Fabiani
Written by Paolo Mei
Translated by Nicolò Caneparo
