Bertagnolli won gold in the super combined event at the 2017 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships in Tarvisio and is looking forward to the 2019 event being co-hosted by Sella Nevea in Italy and Kranjska Gora in Slovenia.

"I cannot wait to race," he said to the International Paralympic Committee website.

"This year I think I am skiing better than last year, faster. 

"My racing position is better this year. 

"I am lower, closer to the snow. 

"But I have to test it all. 

"I want to know how much I have improved."

Bertagnolli goes into the competition as vision impaired slalom and giant slalom Paralympic champion, having won gold in both events at Pyeongchang 2018. 

He also achieved silver in the super-G event and bronze in downhill.

Having spent the summer attempting to improve his speed but finding that the faster he skied, the less of the slope he could see, Bertagnolli has changed his entire approach. 

"I realised the solution was to not worry about the gates," he added.

"Instead the solution is just to worry about Fabrizio (Casal - his guide) and stay much nearer to him. 

"If I stay just behind him - say, 1.5 metres or something - then I can see the line he is taking and just follow it.

"So I know where the gates are without worrying about them. 

"That is what we have changed and now I can go much faster."

The teenager has also discussed his plans following the World Championships. 

"I want to travel," Bertagnolli said.

"I will go to England to work and to study English, probably in Chester.

"Then after England I want to travel to South America, to Chile or Peru, because I like the sound of those countries and I have never been.

"Also, I met Manolo (Italian climber Maurizio Zanolla) and he told me that whenever I want, I can go climbing with him. 

"So we will do it after the World Championships because I don't want to break my leg before."