Cazzaniga secures first Trentino 2013 gold for hosts Italy on slopes of Cima Uomo

By Gary Anderson in Passo San Pellegrino in Trentino

December 13 - Friday the 13th proved a lucky day for host nation Italy as it secured a first gold medal of Trentino 2013 thanks to alpine skier Davide Cazzaniga who took top spot in the men's downhill competition here.

The reigning Italian champion clocked a time of 1min 13:00sec to finish clear of Frenchman Blaise Giezendanner, while there was further smiles on homefaces as Guglielmo Bosca took bronze with a time of 1:13:73.

"In the first stage of the competition I had some problems in finding the right pace, afterwards, I found the right determination," said 21-year-old Cazzaniga.

"It was an amazing day.

"I am happy, but I 'm not satisfied about my performance and I won't celebrate because I really want to repeat this result tomorrow in [the] Super-G race.

"After that, I will think about having a party."

It was an all-eastern European affair in the women's event as Russia's Valentina Golenkova registered an impressive time of 1:17:92 to take gold ahead of Slovakian Jana Gantnerova and Poland's Karolina Chrapek.

Golenkova hopes toalso make it a double success in the Super-G event, due to take place here tomorrow.

"It was amazing," she said.

"A day that I will remember forever.

"I skied really well with a few [imperfections] on a track that even without too many downhill is quite difficult.

"Really hope to repeat this result in Super-G."

All smiles for Valentina Golenkova in Passo San Pellegrino after she took gold in the women's downhill competition ©Federico Modica/Trentino 2013 Universiade

Elsewhere, Val di Fiemme witnessed biathlon gold medal winning performances as Sergej Kliachin secured a third gold medal of the 26th Winter Universiade for Russia while the women's title went to Serbia's Natalia Prekopova.

Kliachin led the field for the entire race finishing in 51:56 ahead of compatriot Aleksandr Mingalev with Serbia's Milanko Petrovic taking the bronze medal.

Despite a relatively poor start in the first shooting session, Prekopova recovered to lead home the field in a time of 47:38 ahead of rivals Weronika Nowakowska-Ziemniak of Poland and Czech Jitka Landova.

"Despite my initial mistake I've never lost my concentration, [a] thing which is not easy on this track," said Prekopova.

"I'm really happy and it would be fantastic to earn a spot for the Olympic Games in Sochi."

In Predazzo, Poland's Adam Cieslar otook the spoils in the Nordic combined men's event, making the telling break from the rest of the pack around 2,000 metres out from the line to finish ahead of German Johannes Raphael Wasel and Japan's Aguri Shimizu in a time of 26:28.

"It was a great day for me," said the 21-year-old.

"I wanted to win and gave everything I had during the last kilometre."

Adam Cieslar of Poland (centre) proved the main man in Predazzo today ©Pierre Teyssot/Trentino 2013 Universiade

It was a double celebration for Poland today as over at the Ice Rink in Baselga di Pine, Jan Marek Szymanski bagged the men's 5,000m speed skating crown in a time of 6:32:47 just ahead of Russia's Evgeny Seryaev and Lee Jin Yeong of South Korea.

There was better news for South Korea in the women's 1500m competition with gold going to Kim Bo Reum with Natalia Czerwonka of Poland and Russian Evgeniya Dmitrieva completing the podium.

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