Source: Skitime.it
“I was born as a downhiller, but was much to daring to jump down from the chair lift, and my parents hijacked me toward xc-skiing. From the distance of years, I am obliged to thank them. At Oberstdorf, I have lived the greatest emotion of my life, an emotion that I hope to relive at the Winter Olympics in Pragelato.” – Pietro Piller Cottrer
Pietro Piller Cottrer, was born at Pieve of Cadore (BL) December 20 1974, and has created a picture of himself with these simple words, that summarize an Italian career started in 1988, and debuted with the World Cup season of 1994-95. An authentic pillar of the national team guided by Mark Albarello, the standard-bearer of the “Centro Sportivo Carabinieri” is also a steady point of the Italian relay, protagonist of epic performances in World, Olympic Games, and the World Cup.
In the team competitions, Pietro in fact gained a rainbow-colored medal of bronze in Trondheim in 1997 and an Olympic silver in Salt Lake City in 2002. A skier of strong talents and techniques, Piller prefers the skating technique, a specialty in which he earned the victory in 15 km of the Beitestolen of World Cup 2003/2004 and triumphed in 50 km of Holmenkollen in 1997, a grueling competition considered by many assigned to work experts, the most fascinating of the whole “White Circus” and disputed in the presence of about ten thousand impassioned fans.
Fourth in the final classification of World Cup 2000/2001, Piller amazed the world in the last stage, seizing the gold medal in 15 kilometer championships of Oberstdorf. In the unforgettable ride, he preceded Fulvio Valbusa at the conclusion of a fascinating “head to head” that transformed the German day into an “Italian-tri-color” party flag. It is Pietro Piller Cotter the athlete of the year Fisi 2005.
Among all the 9,000 votes received through the internet site of the Federation www.fisi.org, as well as with the votes of the journalists of area, the champion of Sappada, after an exciting competition to the last vote, collected 3,248 “leaving behind” Giorgio Fortress, Elena Franchini e Corinna Boccaccini and as they all came, all his colleagues of the other competitive disciplines.
Congratulations, CaterPiller!
