Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen won the first gold medal of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, taking the men’s downhill on Friday at the Stelvio Ski Center in Bormio, Italy.
Von Allmen finished in 1 minute, 51.61 seconds to beat 33 other starters. Born in 2001, he won gold in his first Olympic race.
“It feels like a scene from a movie. It doesn’t feel real,” he said after the race. “It’s hard to put into words what this gold medal means to me. I think it will sink in a few days after the Games are over.”
Von Allmen has competed on the International Ski and Snowboard Federation World Cup since 2023 and has five World Cup downhill wins across last season and this season. He also won the men’s downhill title at the Alpine skiing world championships in Saalbach, Austria, in February last year. He arrived in strong form after winning the final pre-Olympics World Cup downhill on Feb. 1 in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
Switzerland have now won back-to-back Olympic men’s downhill golds, following Beat Feuz at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Host nation Italy took silver and bronze in the first medal event of the Olympics. Giovanni Franzoni was second in 1:51.81, and Dominik Paris was third in 1:52.11.
Swiss skier Marco Odermatt, who leads the men’s overall standings this season with three downhill wins, three giant slalom wins and two super-G victories, placed fourth in 1:52.31.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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