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Swiss world champion Franjo von Allmen took home the first gold medal of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Games, beating Italian favorite and Bormio specialist Dominik Paris in the men’s downhill by fifty-hundredths of a second.
The 24-year-old skier, competing in his first Olympic Games, occupied the top of the podium for most of the final at the Stelvio ski center in Bormio on Saturday morning. He finished his race in 1:51.61, reaching top speeds of 83.77 mph in the final stretch of his race.
The host country won two medals to complete the podium.
Italian skier Giovanni Franzoni, 24, won a silver medal in his first Winter Olympics, finishing two-tenths of a second behind von Allmen. Paris, a six-time winner of the World Cup in Bormio, earned a bronze medal in his fifth Olympic Games.
The Americans fell short of the first gold medal in Milan Cortina.
Kyle Negomir finished in the top 10 in his first Olympic appearance, three-time Olympians Bryce Bennett and Ryan Cochran-Siegle finished 13th and 18th, respectively; and first-time Olympian Sam Morse finished 19th.
Team USA will have another chance to win medals on Saturday in the women’s cross-country skiathlon, women’s 3,000-meter speedskating, women’s regular hill ski jumping and the men’s Snowboard Big Air final.
