Albania’s Lara Colturi, Once ‘in the Womb’ at Turin Games, Races at Milan-Cortina

Albanian alpine ski team member Lara Colturi. [Photo=AP·Yonhap]

Some athletes have experienced both the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics and the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, returning to the same stage 20 years later.

Among them are American ski star Lindsey Vonn and Italian short-track standout Arianna Fontana. Another athlete has an unusual link to both Games: Albanian alpine skier Lara Colturi.

Born in November 2006, Colturi was already at the Turin Olympics — in her mother’s womb. Her mother, Daniela Ceccarelli, competed for Italy in alpine skiing at the time.

Colturi raced in the women’s giant slalom on Feb. 15 (Korean time) at the Tofane Alpine Ski Center in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, clocking 1 minute, 3.97 seconds to finish in a tie for fourth. She narrowly missed the medals.

In an interview with the Olympic Channel, Colturi said, “Except for the Olympics I attended while in my mother’s belly, this is my first Olympics,” adding, “Until now I lived as Ceccarelli’s daughter, but now I feel like I’ve truly become an Olympian.”

She added, “I want a better result in slalom,” and said she hopes to “make new history as Albania’s first Winter Olympic medalist.”

Ceccarelli won gold in the women’s super-G at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. At the 2006 Turin Games, she competed despite being pregnant and dealing with a knee injury.

Colturi switched her sporting nationality to Albania to train in a more independent environment. Coached by her mother, she made her International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) World Cup debut in 2022 at age 15 and is now competing on the Olympic stage.