“I like to have such a different approach to our sport!”

Italy’s Alessandro Pittin can look back on a storied career with a lot of highs but also lows. In this edition of TUESDAY TALK, the Italian veteran reflects on some of the novelties of last winter, the training process and his younger teammates.

You won the red bib of the Fastest Skier last season after an intense fight with Magnus Krog (NOR). Is it motivating to finally also get some more recognition for this part of Nordic Combined?

Alessandro Pittin: Already some years ago I was thinking about some different standings or recognitions for both Nordic Combined disciplines. Who wins the competition is the best nordic combiner that day for sure, but not everyone who wins the jumping part or skis the fastest time is able to stand on the podium, so it's good to have a price also for those guys.

The first time I thought about this "special prize" was to motivate everyone in the cross-country race. If a strong athlete starts in the back of the group after jumping, without any possibility to end with a good result, he still has motivation to ski fast for the Best Skier standings.

I'm very happy now we can fight for Blue and Red Bib and I hope that in future we will have also two Standings for "Normal Hill" and "Large Hill" competitions giving the chance to more athletes to fight for an Overall trophy.

In Lillehammer, the Mass Start returned to the World Cup level of Nordic Combined. As one of the strong racers of the field, in how far is it different to be able to race in front and have a different tactical approach to a race?

Pittin: I always had a good feeling with Mass Start competition so I was exited to race again in this format. I didn't had a good final result tough but it's been fun to start all together and play some tactics with the other best skiers.

Unfortunately I was not in a really good shape that day and in the last hundreds meters I lost some seconds but it was still nice to have a different perspective of Nordic Combined racing. For sure it's not easy to race at your limits in the morning and a few hours later go to jump on the hill but I like to have such a different approach to our sport.

How has your training been so far this summer?

Pittin: I’m satisfied with the training I've done in this first part of the summer. We had the chance to train more at home and to do different kind of training camps.

At the moment I'm still working on my jumping skills and there is a lot to do! (laughs)

You and your teammates took part in the Red Bull 400 in Val di Fiemme not too long ago. How does such an event fit into the summer preparation and how was the experience this year?

Pittin: The Red Bull 400 is a great event for our Ski Jumping stadium in Val di Fiemme and it's always a pleasure to take part to it. We had a fantastic edition this year with a lot of fun and participants.

Usually we don't train for this kind of races so this time it went quite badly for me, but as it's only a few minutes climb up the ski  jump it's not so difficult to make it fit into our summer training. It's more or less like a combination of running and a strength session.

We will have quite an intense Summer Grand Prix period this August and September. Do you already know at which venues you will be on start? What are your goals for the summer period?

Pittin: We haven’t decided yet what to do with the Summer Gran Prix, if we start in all competitions or just take part in a few of them or even skip the entire Gran Prix because of our trainings plan. As I already said I'm still working to improve on Ski Jumping and this remains my main goal.

With Samuel Costa, Aaron Kostner, Raffaele Buzzi and others, there is a talented group of young Italian athletes coming up. Who from the Italian team (of course you included) will we have to watch next winter?

Pittin: Everyone, of course! (laughs) During last season we made some progress and we know that we're not so far from good results. I hope we will be stronger next winter.