San Marino. Beijing Olympics, Cats disqualified in giant
Bittersweet debut for Matteo Gatti annex Beijing Olympics. The blue-white skier, born in 2001, faced the giant slalom today, encountering a disqualification for “false start” in the second heat.
A pity so far everything had gone well. Despite the weather conditions at the limit of regularity and the delayed start of the second heat, Gatti was able to find the right feeling with the track.
In the first heat, which saw 89 athletes at the start, Gatti started with bib number 82 and led a good race, finished in 49th place out of 54 at the finish line, even surpassing some skiers who started with a lower bib than his. with a time of 1.20.40.
In the second heat he reached the finish line with an overall time of 2.43.87 which would have earned him the 44th place finish if only the disqualification for early start had not arrived.
“I’m sorry for how it went – he comments – such a thing has never happened to me. Sure the excitement and tension from the long day did influence, but to be honest I felt pretty calm. It’s a shame, because I was quite satisfied with my performance, especially in the first heat. In the second, I realized what had happened almost immediately, even if I wasn’t sure. That thought, however, conditioned me and I was unable to dare the best. Once I got to the bottom I saw the time, they complimented me, but I suspected it could have ended as it went “.
Now Gatti will have to cancel the disappointment and focus on Wednesday’s slalom.
“I will have to be able to find the right compromise between doing well and containing risks – he says – Today, in the first heat, I had found it. I’ll have to try to do the same in slalom too ”.
To attend his race, in addition to the Secretary General of the CONS Eros Bolognathere was the head of mission Gian Luca Gattiarrived in Beijing yesterday.
“Too bad, Matteo ran into this disqualification which spoiled a performance that was overall very good – comments the head of mission -. We are satisfied with his performance, but not with the result. We hope that he will be able to find the deserved redemption in slalom ”.