All the Italian Gold Medals

The history of Italy at the Winter Paralympics stretches back 42 years and our Paralympic athletes have brought home a total of 16 gold medals.

Italy at the Winter Paralympics has a 42-year history, since the only Italian competing in Geilo 1980, Maurizio Cagol, ranked 32nd in the Giant Slalom and 22nd in the Slalom 1A (Paralympians with amputation to a single leg above the knee). From that moment on, Italy's great victories at the Winter Paralympic Games came hard and fast. A total of 16 Golds have been brought home by our Paralympic Athletes. In the medal table of the Winter Paralympics we are 13th (Germany in the lead, Austria in second place). It is also thanks to these successes that the Paralympic Movement is achieving increasingly important results.

In this in-depth analysis we look back together at all of Italy's gold medals at the Paralympic Winter Games. 

Bruno Oberhammer and Paolo Lorenzini in Innsbruck 1988

We are in Innsbruck, it is 1988 and Bruno Oberhammer from San Lorenzo di Sebato (BZ) is at his second Winter Paralympics. In a certain sense, he is already there in history: four years earlier, again in Innsbruck, he won the first medal of the Italian Winter Paralympic National Team with a Bronze in the Alpine Combined Para Alpine Skiing in the B2 category (field of vision less than 5 degrees). At 33, he feels the time has come to raise the bar even further. This is how, thanks also to the precious guidance of Alberto Benchimol, he won as an absolute protagonist in the Downhill and in the Giant Slalom B3 (field of vision between 5 and 20 degrees). They will not be the last visits to the podium during his career, which is full of success. 

Added to the Oberhammer Golds is that of Paolo Lorenzini, who wins in the Para Cross Country Skiing category B3. Lorenzini triumphs in the long distance of 30km category B3, beating the Swede Max Stalnacke and the American Robert Walsh. Thanks to this success, 27 years later, he will receive the Golden Collar of Sporting Merit, CONI's highest honour.

At Innsbruck 1988, Italy will win - in addition to the 3 gold medals - 6 bronze medals. Among the latter, the historic one of Carmela Cantisani (Para Alpine Skiing, Downhill B1) stands out, the first from the Paralympic Valanga Rosa (Pink Avalanche).
 

Angelo Zanotti and Bruno Oberhammer at Nagano 1998

It is 1998 and the Winter Paralympic Games are being held in Nagano, Japan. They are the first for Angelo Zanotti, yet he has great experience on his side. He is one of those Paralympic Athletes who has tried his hand at many sports: Paralympic High Jump, Para Pentathlon, Para Alpine Skiing and Para Cycling. His first Paralympics were the summer ones in Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992, competing in the Para High Jump and the Para Pentathlon, coming close to a medal.

In Nagano 1998 he managed to gain the pass for 4 Para Alpine Skiing finals, but it was in the Giant Slalom and in the category B1 (Paralympic who does not perceive light in either eye) Super G that he managed to get a Gold Medal around his neck.

Meanwhile, a decade has passed since Bruno Oberhammer won the first historic Gold in Innsbruck 1988. There has been no shortage of great results over the years: 1 Silver and 1 Bronze at Tignes Albertville 1992, 4 Silvers at Lillehammer 1994. In Nagano, however, it is time to end an extraordinary career. In the B1 Special Slalom, with a real time of 2:19:55, he precedes the Frenchman Jean-Noel Arbez and his teammate Gianmaria Dal Maistro. He retired in 1999, leaving an indelible mark on the history of the Italian Paralympic National Team.

In those Winter Paralympics the star Gianmaria Jerry Dal Maistro was born, winning 3 medals (two Silver and one Bronze) in Para Alpine Skiing. It's just the prelude to another beautiful Italian sporting story.

Roland Ruepp and Fabrizio Zardini in Salt Lake City 2002

March 2002, the Winter Paralympic Games were held in Salt Lake City. Italy is present with a team of 13 athletes. Roland Ruepp is among these, he has already made his debut in Lillehammer 1994 and in Nagano 1998 he won a splendid Silver in the Para Cross Country Skiing 10 km category LW 11 (Paralympian with paralysis of the lower limbs). In Utah he took the definitive step towards success: first he won the 5km Sitski LW11, then he did a double in the 10km, arriving exhausted on the straight and leaving the Frenchman Marguerettaz and the Swiss Weber behind him.

Glory for the Azzurri does not end there during those Winter Olympics: Fabrizio Zardini from Ampezzo became the protagonist of an enormous success in Super G in the LW11 category (disability of the lower limbs with reasonable functional balance when sitting); To this day, he remains the only Italian in history to achieve success in the Para Alpine Skiing category. Two years later, in Turin 2006, he will pronounce the Paralympic Oath.

Gianmaria Dal Maistro and Silvia Parente in Turin 2006

At the 2006 Turin Winter Paralympics Gianmaria Dal Maistro is already a dean of the Italian national team. He is 25 years old, has 3 Silver and 1 Bronze at the Paralympic Winter Games and is one of the greatest Italian hopes of that edition of the Games. Between Downhill, Giant Slalom and Special Slalom he was missing a medal in Super G B3, but the opportunity in Sestriere (Borgata) becomes tempting. With his guide Tommaso Balasso, he led a spectacular race, but had to surrender to Gerd Gradwohl's best time. However, after careful examination by the race judges, the German winner is disqualified for the non-regulatory driving distance: it's Gold for Jerry, the party can begin!

The Turin 2006 Winter Paralympics, however, never cease to amaze and there is a reason why they have entered history as far as the Italian national team is concerned. Silvia Parente arrived in Turin 2006 as a veteran: she had already won a Bronze in Lillehammer 1994 in the B1 Special Slalom and at home - with the guidance of Lorenzo Migliari - she wanted to try everything to win the most prestigious medal. It's March 17th and a fantastic Silvia throws her heart over the obstacle in the B1 Giant Slalom, leaving behind multi-titled Paralympic athletes such as French Pascale Casanova and Austrian Sabine Gasteiger. It is a day destined to remain in the annals of Italian Paralympic history: Silvia Parente is the first Italian woman in history to win Gold at the Winter Paralympics. She will also win 3 Bronzes in the Downhill, Super G and Special Slalom, winning the most medals of the Italian expedition.

Francesca Porcellato in Vancouver 2010

It's March 21, 2010 and the Winter Paralympics are taking place in Vancouver. It's the last day, Italy hasn't won any gold medals yet. The last hope for the Azzurri is represented by Francesca Porcellato. La Rossa Volante (The Flying Red) has experience to spare and has already won 5 medals at the Summer Paralympics in Athletics, but never at the Winter ones. She competes in the LW10-12 1km Sprint category of Para Cross Country Skiing and is not the favourite, given that in Turin 2006 she finished far from the podium. In her second participation in the Winter Paralympic Games, however, magic happens: she finds herself sensationally ahead of the Ukrainian Olena Iurkovska and the Belarusian Liudmila Vachuk, she doesn't throw away even a second of advantage and crosses the finish line in first position. Italy rejoices and breathes a sigh of relief, even in Vancouver 2010 there is no shortage of Gold. For Francesca Porcellato it is a return to Paralympic victory after 22 years, when in Seoul 1988 she won in the 100m and 4x100m.

Giacomo Bertagnolli at Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022

After zero medals in Sochi 2014 (worst result ever since Geilo 1980), Italy had to recover in the Winter Paralympics. Giacomo Bertagnolli is our diamond, despite being just 18 years old: he arrived in South Korea as the winner of the 2016 World Cup and has entered like lightning among the most accredited Paralympians for the victory in the Giant Slalom and in the Special Slalom of Para Alpine Skiing . In Jeongseon on 14 March 2018, in the B1-B3 Special Slalom, the boy from Val di Fiemme outclassed his opponents, giving more than a second of advantage to Jakub Krako who succeeded him. The extraordinary thing is that 3 days later he managed to do better in the Giant Slalom B1-B3, beating Krako by 5 seconds. Led by Fabrizio Casal, he was on the roof of the world twice in 72 hours. They are two exciting and special Golds, which return to Italy in the B1-B3 men's Slalom twenty years after Nagano 1998 (and Bertagnolli was not even born yet).

4 years pass and in the meantime Giacomo has won in sequence 1 World Cup, 3 Downhill World Cups, 2 World Cups in the Super G, 1 in the Special Slalom and 1 in the Giant Slalom for a total of 61 podiums. Thanks to these magnificent results and his previous performances at Pyeonchang 2018, he was appointed Flag Bearer of the Italian expedition to Beijing 2022. Compared to the last edition, he found himself among the most favourites and, fortunately, did not disappoint the predictions: after an unexpected 6th place in the Downhill and an excellent Bronze in the Super-G, he dominated in the Impaired Super Combined led by Andrea Ravelli. Third Gold, first in the Super Combined and equalled Oberhammer among the Italian Paralympians in first place several times. A week later there is still the Impaired Special Slalom, once again against the very strong Aigner (the brother of the super family). On the last day, from the first heat it is already clear that it will be a challenge between the two of them, who in the end are only 28 hundredths of a second apart, the young Italian coming first. Another Gold, the fourth, for Giacomo Bertagnolli in the Paralympic legend: no one else has come first place so many times at the Winter Paralympics. An incredible story that still holds many surprises.

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