Renato Valentini

Italian skier Renato Valentini was a downhill specialist, although he was proficient at giant slalom and slalom, which helped him in many combined events. He won five Italian junior titles and one European junior title. In 1968 in Garmisch Valentini won the 5 Nations Trophy, defeating, among others, Jean-Claude Killy, and competed at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics. Valentini appeared four times at the classic race 3Tre in Madonna di Campiglio, with a best result of fourth in combined and downhill in 1965.

Valentini later turned to coaching in Trentino. Skiing and the mountains were always a part of his life, and in 1970-71 he took part in Cesare Maestri’s second Patagonian expedition to Cerro Torre. Many remember him behind the counter of the Olimpionico, the sporting goods store that he ran together with his friend Franco Vidi, another member of the national Alpine ski team of Madonna di Campiglio, and his wife Susi Antolini, an activity where he remained until a few years before his death from a long illness on the eve of turning 70. The Renato Valentini Memorial, a youth Alpine ski race, is named after him.