Di Centa’s dream finale for Italians

GIORGIO DI CENTA ensured a dream finale to the Turin Winter Games for the host nation by claiming an unexpected gold medal in the men’s 50km cross-country skiing at Pragelato.

Di Centa held off Russian Evgeni Dementiev by a mere 0.8 seconds to send the home supporters wild after the disappointment of Giorgio Rocca’s early slalom exit yesterday.

Victory was all the sweeter for di Centa, because his medal ceremony had already been scheduled to take place as part of the closing ceremony at the Olympic Stadium tonight.