Michela Moioli clinches the bronze in snowboardcross, which she won two years ago in Kreischberg, and in the Spanish World Cup in Sierra Nevada, she wins another fantastic medal in third place at today’s tough and tiring race. The 22-year-old from Alzano, in the Bergamasque Alps, found out what suffering was after the difficult start of the final that had relegated her off the podium, before recovering centimetre by centimetre, showing up at the sprint in view of the finish line to battle for the medal with an excellent Raffaella Brutto. The Genoan unfortunately fell a few hundred metres from the finish, so Michela managed to seize another important position behind the American favourite, Lindsey Jacobellis, and Chloe Trespeuch, from France. Sofia Belingheri, the third Italian that had got through the qualifiers on Friday, went out in the quarter-finals.

However, Italy saw no medals for the men, as Frenchman Pierre Vaultier won ahead of Lucas Eguibar, who garnered Spain’s first ever medal; the bronze went to Australian Alex Pullin. Omar Visintin, who got to the semifinals with relative ease, then failed to find the right opportunity to advance to the final stage. The quarter-finals saw Tommaso Leoni, Emanuel Perathoner and reigning world champion Luca Matteotti all leave the competition. Lorenzo Sommariva was out in the round of 16.