It has been exactly twenty years since that Monday, December 12th, 2005.Madonna di Campiglio was wrapped in cold and snow, steeped in expectation. A decade had passed since the last Italian triumph at the 3Tre, on December 19th, 1995, when Alberto Tomba sent the Canalone Miramonti crowd into raptures for the third and final time.
From then on came attempts, close calls, nights of almost. And in alpine skiing – especially in slalom – almost can weigh as much as an avalanche. Yet that night twenty years ago carried something different in the air: a vibration, a sense of promise accompanying Italy’s journey towards the Turin 2006 Olympic Games.
Giorgio Rocca stood in the start gate wearing the red bib of the World Cup slalom leader, buoyed by a victory the previous week in Beaver Creek.
The Livigno native was the beacon of Italian skiing at that moment: often on the podium, occasionally victorious, and now entering the 2005/2006 season with an invisible weight on his shoulders. The maturity and responsibility that came with becoming a father, of course – but also the desire to prove, perhaps more to himself than to anyone else, that he was worthy of an inheritance shaped by giants: from the heroes of the Valanga Azzurra to the glory years of Alberto Tomba.
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“Winning in Italy was the one thing missing, but I was in great form and believed I could do it,”recalls Rocca, now a 3Tre Ambassador.“I had won in the U.S. the week before, but doing it in Italy had an entirely different flavour and prestige. It was the right moment to go for it, and I made it happen.”
After the first run, Rocca was a breath behind Austria’sBenni Raichand Finland’sKalle Palander. Third place – but close enough to feel that the slope was speaking his language.
With the confidence only champions possess, Rocca attacked the second run with controlled ferocity. A slalom run in Campiglio is shorter than on many other courses, yet those 45 seconds felt endless. Power, precision, balance: Rocca entered into a silent dialogue with the vertical wall of the Canalone Miramonti, crossing the finish line ahead of Raich and Palander.
“Compared to Beaver Creek, I was chasing from the start of the second run, but I managed to put together the perfect descent. I gave everything without overthinking it, and once I crossed the finish line I felt I had done something special. I was relaxed because I knew I had done all I could – yet tense because we still had to wait for Grandi, Palander and Raich.”
“The Madonna crowd sensed it too; the atmosphere was electric. When the last athlete crossed the line, they erupted in a way not seen since the days of my idol, Alberto Tomba. I still get chills thinking about it. It was the greatest emotion of my career, even though I kept winning all the way to Wengen that winter. Madonna made me the man to beat, the reference point in world slalom.”
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Since then, no Italian has managed to win again in Madonna di Campiglio. The Canalone Miramonti has remained a beautiful enigma – a complex love story for the Italian team. In the last decade,Manfred Moelgg,Giuliano Razzoli,Stefano GrossandAlex Vinatzerhave all come close, but none has broken the spell. Vinatzer, however, will have another chance onJanuary 7th.
“Right now Alex is smoother in giant slalom than in slalom, and the results reflect that. But those results can give him confidence. In slalom, his issue in my opinion is how he interprets the runs: he tends to over-push, when he simply needs to bring into the race what he does well in training. My advice is to keep training as well as possible and simulate race routines and situations. In short, he needs to find consistency, which will also help lift the whole team.”
To tell the story of Giorgio Rocca’s night in Madonna di Campiglio is to tell the story of an Italy dreaming big in its Olympic season. And so it will be again onJanuary 7th, 2026, when the72nd 3Tre(first run at6:00 p.m., second at9:00 p.m, tickets available atwww.3trecampiglio.it) unfolds exactly one month before the Milano Cortina Olympic Games.
A good omen for the Italian athletes, and a chance to seize a day that could define a career. Until then, the night of December 12th, 2005, remains suspended in time. Untouched. Simply magical.
Madonna di Campiglio (Italy), December 12th, 2025
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1. Giorgio Rocca celebrating the last Italian win at the 3Tre (Credits: Paolo Bisti).
2. The determination of the Livigno skier, who delivered a brilliant comeback in the second run of the 2005 3Tre (Credits: Paolo Bisti).
3. The top three of the 2005 Madonna di Campiglio slalom. From left: Kalle Palander, Giorgio Rocca and Benni Raich (Credits: Paolo Bisti).
4. A cold, snowy evening framed Rocca’s finest career day (Credits: Paolo Bisti).
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