Lara, the 15-year-old Italian skier who competes for Albania

Screenshot of Lara Colturi at Le Dauphine page

 "The 15-year-old daughter Daniela Ceccarelli shines... in the colors of Albania," writes today the French daily newspaper "Le Dauphine" in its sports supplement about the fantastic results she is getting in South America (where now in the South Hemisphere is Winter) in the competitions of skier Lara Colturi, the 15-year-old Italian who competes for the Albanian ski federation.

In May of this year, Interior Minister Blendi Cuci gave Albanian passports to Lara Colturi, her mother Daniela Ceccarelli, an Olympic champion, and her brother, after Lara decided to compete in ski competitions under the Albanian flag. 

"She is coming off a string of victories in South America. This is even more amazing when you look at the nation she represents: Albania. However, the young skier is none other than the daughter of the Italian Daniela Cecarelli, Olympic champion in super-G in 2002" wrote "Le Dauphine".

But how is it explained that a rare champion, who would be envious of having countries with a tradition in skiing in their national team, chose Albania? This is explained by the French newspaper "Le Dauphine". "The story of the 15-year-old skier is unusual. The daughter of the Italian Daniela Cecarelli, Olympic champion in super-G in 2002, does not compete for the same nation of her distinguished mother as she has chosen to defend the colors of Albania.

Why this choice? The first argument would be the desire to build a family project around Lara. In fact, she has built a private structure, entitled "Golden Cecarelli Team" with her mother Daniela Cecarelli as coach. "For us it is important and essential that Lara follows the family project, she explains in the pages of Corriere della sera. With Albania she will be able to have unlimited access to competitions unlike what would have happened if she competed for Italy.