Talented skier passes away

“Kissed her until the last moment of her life”

Numerous people bid farewell to Matilde Lorenzi.(Bild: GEPA)

Thousands of people paid their last respects to 19-year-old Matilde Lorenzi in Giaveno on Thursday. The talented Italian skier passed away on Tuesday after a training crash. "I held her hand, I kissed her until the last moment of her life", were the moving words of her friend Federico Tomasoni.

Crowds in the streets of Giaveno. Together they bid farewell to Matilde Lorenzi, who was considered one of Italy's greatest skiing hopes. "The Lord God has taken a miracle away from us," Lorenzi's grandmother Rosina was quoted as saying by Italian media.

"Wherever you are now, you must continue skiing"
 Tears from family, friends and fans. "You came in a hurry on November 15, 2004, you were born quickly. Now you have decided to leave quickly," said mom Elena. "Wherever you are now, you have to keep skiing!" 200 members of the Italian Ski Association and numerous politicians attended the funeral and the sympathy was huge.

Wherever you are now, you have to keep skiing!

Mutter von Matilde Lorenzi

Special project
In the hours of grief, the "Matildina4Safety" fundraising campaign was also launched. The family initiated the project to improve the safety of athletes.

Serious training crash 
During her training crash on Monday on the Schnals Glacier in South Tyrol, Lorenzi apparently hit her face on the pimple-hard piste. The 19-year-old suffered severe craniocerebral trauma. She was taken by helicopter to hospital in Bolzano, where she succumbed to her injuries.

Friend remembers "extraordinary moments"
"Every moment with Matilde was extraordinary. Even the one when I took her to the bus that took her to the training camp. I don't know how to explain it, but the farewell was a mixture of very strong emotions," her friend, ski crosser Federico Tomasoni, told the Gazzetta dello Sport.