First snowfall in Livigno that makes us hope for a “white” winter.
The slope, initially realized with snow-farming, is now longer.
Still 100 bibs for the La Sgambeda of 4 December.
Marianna Longa has registered a place in the grid for the 35 Km.

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.” It is a Zen proverb that fits perfectly. The first snow has already arrived in Livigno and it did so in exactly the right place. The snowfall seems to have been made on purpose to extend the cross-country track, which has been open since October 23rd thanks to snow-farming. This snowfall has allowed the technicians to prepare a ring of about three kilometers in the area of the Biathlon Arena.

An extension of the track that the many athletes, champions and simple cross-country skiers, were waiting for, because there is a real crowd. Livigno is one of the few and privileged places where the cross-country skiers, without climbing on the glacier but still remaining in the high altitude in a welcoming and pleasant location, can switch from rollerskis to cross-country skis and prepare for the upcoming season, the World Cup season with the classic appointment in Ruka in Finland and the popular race season, coincidentally starting in Livigno with the 31st edition of La Sgambeda scheduled for Saturday, December 4.

The champions are hurrying to refine their form, while those who want to participate in the historic and fascinating 35 km long-distance race in free technique still have a chance of 100 available bibs, numbers that are… dissolving like snow in the sun. Quantities are limited for this edition, by decision of the organizers to fully respect the rules of containment of Covid, a closed number that will probably leave on foot, and not only in a metaphorical sense, who will hesitate to decide.

Marianna Longa, Livigno’s skierss champion, knows it well and doesn’t want to miss Saturday 4 December. World silver and bronze medals, 10 podiums in the World Cup with two victories, Marianna Longa remains one of the most beloved Italian cross-country skiers, a discipline that she has never abandoned and that she often practices on Livigno’s tracks as an amateur.

Those who are getting serious on the track in Livigno at the beginning of this season are the many athletes of the different national teams who have chosen the ‘Little Tibet’ for their training, and among them several famous faces of the world cross-country skiing with Johannes Klæbo to show off, because he is preparing the Olympic season meticulously and especially in Livigno, openly declaring on his social channels his love for the Italian town.

Among the flakes falling and the slope getting longer, Livigno is coloring itself with the thousand lights that in the approach to the Christmas holidays embellish even more the ‘Little Tibet’, land of sport, fun and shopping.

Info: www.lasgambeda.it