Rome (AFP)

You can be a speed specialist and know how to take your time: the Italian skier Dominik Paris, suddenly stopped by a serious knee injury in January, is managing his return to competition without skipping the stages.

In Val Gardena (Italy), in the Dolomites, Friday (super-G) and Saturday (descent), "Domme" will first seek to confirm the "beautiful sensations" found last weekend in Val-d'Isère for his return to competition, almost eleven months after his rupture of a cruciate ligament in his right knee.

"There is not yet the fluidity, I am working on it, but I almost managed to have fun and in the end, the gap was not that big. not much missing, "said the 31-year-old Italian, quoted in the Italian press after his tenth place in the downhill on Sunday, after finishing 16th the day before in the super-G.

His serious injury in training, in January in Austria just before the meeting in Kitzbühel, had prematurely ended his season when he was second in the downhill standings and fourth overall in the World Cup. .

But the Italian is not the type to lament his fate: "When you ski, you know that sooner or later you have a risk of injuring yourself", he told the Gazzetta dello sport in September, just after putting on your skis in training.

These long months away from the slopes, he said, were punctuated by rehabilitation sessions - "six to seven hours" per day - but also by a few small pleasures to avoid depression: taking care of his very young children, discover new cooking recipes or compose songs for his heavy metal band (of which he is the singer).

- "No specific objectives" -

Not having been able to go to train on the Argentinian glaciers, due to the coronavirus pandemic, "Domme" has since prepared on European massifs and on artificial snow.

"I was told that I could go back on skis after six months of rehabilitation, but I took the time I needed. I was not in a hurry. And in the end that doesn't change much: the others years, I did not resume on the snow before mid-August, and there I resumed on September 1, I think I am on a good track ", estimated in the weekly Sportweek the one who will start on Friday for his 200th World Cup race (18 wins, including 14 in downhill and 4 in super-G).

Do not hurry, therefore, because the native of Merano, in the far north of Italy, a stone's throw from the Austrian border, also knows that the season will be long: beyond the Italian stages of this end of the year - the speed specialists are expected in Bormio on December 28 and 29 after Val Gardena -, the 2019 super-G world champion does not forget that the Worlds will take place in February at home, in Cortina d ' Ampezzo.

"I have not set specific goals, especially because we will have to see how the knee responds," he warned before the resumption of competitions.

"The big goal is the 2022 Winter Games. And before, the Cortina Worlds, of course. Winning something important at home is always special," however, admitted this great admirer of Hermann Maier.

The Austrian star who, despite the 54 victories gleaned in his career, has never managed to tame the difficult Saslong track of Val Gardena, which is not Dominik Paris' favorite either.

Program of the Men's World Cup in Val Gardena:

Friday December 18: super-G from 11:45 a.m.

Saturday 19 December: descent from 11:45 am

© 2020 AFP