Swiss alpine skier Franjo von Allmen claimed the first gold medal of the Milan–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Saturday, winning the men’s downhill event on the demanding Stelvio course in Bormio.
According to Xinhua, von Allmen delivered a near-perfect run to stop the clock at 1 minute 51.61 seconds, edging out Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni by 0.20 seconds.
Veteran Italian skier Dominik Paris finished third, 0.50 seconds behind the Swiss winner, as all three athletes secured their first Olympic medals.
Swiss racers dominated the early stages of the competition, with world champion Marco Odermatt and Alexis Monney briefly holding the top positions before the later starters reshuffled the podium.
Italy responded strongly on home snow, led by Franzoni and Paris, who reached speeds of up to 150 km/h on the steep course.
“It feels like a dream,” von Allmen said after the race, as quoted by Xinhua. “Starting the Olympics with a gold medal is incredible and hard to describe.”
The Stelvio Ski Center, a regular venue on the Alpine World Cup circuit, is regarded as one of the toughest downhill tracks in the sport due to its steep gradients and high-speed sections.
Saturday’s race covered 3,442 meters with a vertical drop of 1,023 meters.
Only 36 skiers competed in the event, the smallest field since the men’s downhill became a standalone Olympic discipline in 1948, after several athletes withdrew following official training runs, Xinhua reported.
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