Valerio Checchi
Valerio Checchi ( born April 3, 1980 in Subiaco ) is an Italian cross country skier.
Sporting career
Checchi took in 1999 and 2000 at the Junior World Championships in Nordic skiing part. However, he could not place it in the front of the field itself. His best result was a 30th place on the 10 kilometers in the free technique in 2000. A year later, on 8 December 2001, he started for the first time in a World Cup competition. In domestic Cogne he took over the 10 kilometers to the classical technique to rank 71 out of 100 participants. This season, he won the Spanish Candanchú his first Continental Cup competition over the 15-kilometer classic, which were held as a mass start.
The good results in the Continental Cup secured him in the 2002/03 season a starting place in the Italian World Cup team. He succeeded on 12 January 2003 in the Estonian Otepaeae to win first World Cup points. In the mass start competition he finished 19th on 30 km classic. Due to this result, he could classic at the Nordic World Ski Championships 2003 in Val di Fiemme, Italy ( Val di Fiemme ) in the pursuit competition and the 30 km, which were also held in the mass start, go to the start. He could, however, claim as their best result only 28th place on the 30 km. He was thus the worst Italian starter in this competition.
In the 2003 /04 season succeeded Checchi first time of being placed among the top ten in a World Cup competition. About 15 kilometers to the classical technique, he finished in eighth place in Kuusamo. At the Nordic World Ski Championships 2005 in Oberstdorf, he was able to improve the results of the last World Cup and was 24th in the classic pursuit competition and 18th on the 50 km. In the following season, Checchi was able to increase its services further and repeatedly placed among the top ten. In the overall World Cup, he finished in 29th place for the first time with a place in the red group.
In the 2006/07 season suffered a setback Checchis athletic career. Instead get closer to the world's best, he seldom gained placements in the points. At the Nordic World Ski Championships 2007 in Sapporo, Japan was his best result of 26th place in the Pursuit competition. About the 15-kilometer freestyle, he was only 61 and on the 50 km classic, he finished the race prematurely. A year later, he nevertheless made a breakthrough in the world's best. In December 2007, he narrowly missed the podium in fourth place on the 15-kilometer freestyle in the Russian Rybinsk. This, however, he succeeded to the start of the Tour de Ski 2007/2008, when he was able to occupy the third place in the pursuit competition on the 15-kilometer freestyle in Nové Město na Moravě. At the second follow-up competition in Nove Mesto he was even second behind his compatriot Pietro Piller Cottrer. In the overall standings of the Tour de Ski, however, he finished only 15th place, because as 50th on the 15-kilometer classic lost a lot of time on the fifth stage. Due to the success in the Tour de Ski strengthened, succeeded in Canadian Canmore Checchi to win his first World Cup competition. About the 15-kilometer freestyle he won on 25th January 2008, René Sommerfeldt. In the overall ranking of cross-country skiing World Cup, he finished the season in tenth place. In the overall standings of the distance races, he finished sixth and placed itself as the first time in 22 overall in the sprint competitions.