Skiing: Giuliano Besson, former downhill skier with the Valanga Azzurra team, has died

Rome, 24 October (LaPresse) – ‘Giuliano Besson, entrepreneur and former downhill skier for the Valanga Azzurra, has passed away following a sudden illness. He was 75 years old. After retiring from skiing, he founded his own clothing brand and recently wrote an autobiography.’ The announcement was made by FISI in a statement published on its website. ‘Besson took part in the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, which also served as the World Championships, and it was his only Olympic appearance,’ the statement continued. “He placed 11th in the downhill and, in the same year, won the Italian title in the same discipline. He achieved his first significant result in the World Cup on 15 March of the same year in Val Gardena, when he finished 7th in his favourite discipline. Winner in 1973 of the Kandahar delle Ande downhill, the fastest race in the world, he achieved a podium finish in the World Cup on 26 January 1974, placing 2nd in the downhill race on the Streif in Kitzbühel, tied with Stefano Anzi and behind Roland Collombin, and at the subsequent World Championships in Saint Moritz in 1974, he placed 5th. His last international placing was 9th in the World Cup downhill race held in Wengen on 11 January 1975. At the age of 24, together with Stefano Anzi, he was elected by his teammates as representative of the Valanga Azzurra (Blue Avalanche), in defence of the athletes’ rights. At the age of 25, after having to say goodbye to skiing, Besson became an entrepreneur, founding the brand that bears his name and that of his colleague Stefano Anzi. President Flavio Roda and the entire Italian Winter Sports Federation are close to the Besson family at this painful time.