Neveplast, a pump track for Michela Moioli!

 

Michela Moioli, icon of the rebirth of Bergamo.

Neveplast has built a pump track for Michela Moioli who thanks everyone saying “Luckily there are companies like Neveplast that believe in our sport!”. This is what the world champion of SBX posts on Instagram after testing the Start Section designed for her by the crew Selvino Sport. “Thanks a lot! The pump track is really cool; it is just like I wanted it to be. It feels like being on snow!”

Not yet 25 years old, Michela Moioli has already notched up 29 podiums, four world medals, one Olympic gold medal and three Crystal Globes. But she is still hungry. Like all champions Michela is focused on winning and becoming stronger, especially in the most tactful phase of the race, the start, where she can still improve a lot.

From the collaboration with Neveplast and Selvino Sport, in Selvino was created a center dedicated to the training of the start section for ski clubs and ski athletes, mainly from Lombardy. The opening is scheduled for the first weeks of June.

The set up Neveplast includes three starting ramps for alpine skiing and one dedicated to Ski cross and SBX. An extension that adds value to the teaching slope that has recently widely renewed.

I met Michela Moioli right after the first test in Selvino

First thoughts on the pump track Neveplast to train the start section after the test.

I am very happy; I like it a lot! It was exactly what I was looking for to complete the summer training plan. I felt like being on snow! My mum also will be very happy because in the first place I wanted to build the structure in our garden, but she wants a swimming pool there!

It is a flat start section, with small whoops that gives me the possibility to get speed and work on them rather that suffer them.

You were saying that on Neveplast you had the same feelings as on snow…..

Exactly! The condition of the pump track Neveplast is like the one I normally get on start sections of the World cup. Hard-packed snow but not icy. I like Neveplast. They are from Bergamo like me. It is a company that puts effort to spread the culture and practice of winter sports, also in the cities.

How important is the Start Section in the SBX?

The start section is fundamental in an SBX race and it is even more important when the race slope is short. If the slope is long, even if you start behind, you have more chances to make up.
Yet, winning back is always hard; it is much better being first since the beginning and keep the place avoiding contacts with other athletes that, particularly in the early phase of the race, are frequent.

Starts are not all the same in races. Which ones do you prefer and which ones could you improve on?

Star sections like the one developed with Neveplast and Selvino Sport, made of smaller and flat structures, are those that I find more difficult. In these types of starts is fundamental repeating the technical gesture as many times as possible. The starts I like the most are the steep ones, because they are more physical than technical.

How much time do you spend in training on the start sections?

I am a perfectionist and I am never satisfied. Every year, when summer is coming, I try to invent something to improve. I have always been worried about Start Sections. I am confident that now, thanks to this new project, I will be able to improve my technique.
I will come to Selvino any time I can, I am just half an hour far from there. Actually I will come by bike to exercise more.

What are the training plans with your team for this summer?

This summer we scheduled one week in June to spend training in Stelvio, on the glacier, then we will see. All depends on the health alert. Having a fixed installation of Start Sections that I can use whenever I want despite the weather and the restrictions for Covid-19 is absolutely helpful.

What do you think about Urban Ski Lab, the ski slope Neveplast in Bergamo where students of two high schools nearby learn how to skiing during their PE classes in the school’s garden?

I think it is awesome! It is an innovative concept that I believe should be replicated in other cities in Italy and abroad. I wish I had the same opportunity when I was a kid. After what happen with Covid-19 there will be a recognition of the importance of outdoor sports.

About school, what kind of student did you used to be?

I have always been good at school, although during the last years was difficult combining classes and trainings but I worked hard. I try to do things in the best way, always. I am like that.

In your photo archive there are hundreds of pictures where you celebrate wrapped in in the Italian flag: it is said that we should be less ashamed of being Italians with the actual situation……

Very true. Italy is a great country. I am proud to be Italian and my chests swells of pride when I think about my roots. Nobody shall be ashamed to be from Bergamo. I am so proud of how my people faced this dramatic time. I believe that in the DNA of people from Bergamo there is resilience, spirit of sacrifice and a natural propensity to roll up their sleeves. I wouldn’t change my country to anywhere else in the world because it’s home to me.

What does Livigno mean to you? 

Livigno is my second home. Any season in Livigno I found the right tools to train: in winter there are ski slopes, in summer there are gyms, running tracks, bicycle tracks and many more. Doing part of the training on high altitudes is fundamental for skiers. Livigno is a real paradise. Nothing is missing. Only the Start Section Neveplast.

About Livigno, would you leave a message for Giorgio Rocca?

Dear Giorgio I know you never hold back challenges: let’s meet on the slopes, Neveplast slope maybe, you with the snowboard and me with skis and let’s see who wins!

Now more than ever the theme of sustainability is becoming crucial. Neveplast an ecofriendly company and the products can be regenerated. What do you do in your daily life to respect the environment?

I love living in contact with nature. I think we should all be more respectful. A daily gesture I try to do to impact less on the environment is to limit the use of the car. I try to move, when possible, by bike.

Lets go back to the actual situation. The lockdown has eased, but it is essential that everyone respects the rules, even the youngsters who struggle the most. What’s your opinion?

Athletes like me, are used to follow rules and do what we are told without complaining. For me respecting the rules during the lockdown was easy. To youngsters who struggle maintaining the social distance I say let’s all try to be more responsible, less selfish. I also like have a drink but with using common sense.

You are not even 25 and you won a lot…….and now what?

I am focus only on training and winning! Since I was a child, I used to get very angry when I reached the second place because my aim had always been to win.
There are many factors that must match to win. Right after Pyeongchang I went through a crisis because, although I was getting good results, I didn’t have the energy and the determination I’ve always had. This year instead was great!

Do you have a reference model, a champion that inspires you?

I never know how to answer to such a question! If I have to say a name, I’d say Antonio Rossi, a very good person and a wonderful athlete who really inspires me.

Any plans for the future?

Well, I keep training. Next year there is the World Championship, the World Cup and The Olympic Games Milano-Cortina. I am aware that the pandemic contagion has changed for ever our lives, also those of athletes. We should adapt ourselves to continuous and possible changes (canceled or postponed races, training in small groups and restrictions to mobility…) but it doesn’t scare me because we are used to it.

Cesare Pisoni (SBX national DT) says that one like Michela Moioli born once every 20 years.

Moioli says “Also like Cesare Pisoni! I take the chance to thank all my staff: besides Cesare, the coaches Luca and Stefano Pozzolini and Riccardo Bagliani, my skiman Claudio Consagra and Riccardo Ronchi,  my athletic trainer Simone Maffioletti and physiotherapist Marco Proserpio. Snowboard cross is an individual sport; athlete makes the difference but having a great supporting team is better!”

Camilla Ronchi