That a home Olympics is imminent can be seen from the excitement, from the podiums that are multiplying in all snow disciplines. Even those who still had to grow find an extra push: among them undoubtedly Giovanni Franzoni, born in 2001, from Brescia, who has never been on the World Cup podium before, arrived with a third place for the first time in his career, raising two fingers to the sky in a very personal dedication, to Matteo Franzoso, his roommate who died from a fall in training a year ago: on 19 December 2025, on the Sasslong of Val Gardena in SuperG, one of the slopes that made the history of Italian alpine skiing: for the results certainly, but also for the crazy things of Christian Ghedina who, on the jump known as the Camel Humps, did the splits, and also for a serious accident that occurred on that jump to Matteo Piantanida.
It was there that Giovanni Franzoni achieved his first podium in the Coppa, thinking of his roommate who passed away on 15 September last year, following a bad fall in training in La Parva in Argentina. Franzoni was moved to tears in front of the microphones, saying: «I feel that yesterday and today someone from up there was watching me. This dedication can only be for Matteo Franzoso: we’ve had some tough times, but the work pays off. Since he left, I know that he will do all the races with me and I wanted to dedicate a podium to him, because he only deserved something really great. It seems like a dream to me. I still don’t know whether to believe it. Having a race like this here is truly madness. I thought I was lucky yesterday. Today I had great confirmation: I’m also improving on the easy ones, my awareness is growing and I’m freer in my head. I said to myself “Either you start skiing hard, or you won’t get to the front”: I didn’t expect to get this far ahead, but it’s the great confirmation that I can also have my say on these slopes.”
After the race, while he was waiting for everyone to complete the route, compliments arrived from Alberto Tomba, a real injection of confidence: «I have always been an insecure boy, receiving compliments from Alberto today is crazy. My last three years have been complicated, also due to the injury and I had to believe it. And I say the same to everyone else: believe it, believe it. I can only thank all the staff and my teammates, my skiman who has been following me for seven years, my trainer, my family: it’s a miracle.”
Afterwards, without being able to hold back the tears any longer, he explained the mix of emotions: «Joy, adrenaline, a bit of repressed suffering, I’m happy because I’ve dreamed of skiing in the World Cup all my life, the podium arrived on this slope where I didn’t expect it, the team has suffered a lot, I think the results of these two days are not a coincidence, they’re good for us, they’re good for morale, it gives us a lot of confidence».
