Alpine Skiing-Odermatt gets fresh shot at gold in combined event

BORMIO, Italy, Feb 8 - Alpine skiing great Marco Odermatt, left empty‑handed in the Olympic downhill, has another chance to chase gold after he was paired with reigning slalom world champion Loïc Meillard for Monday's team combined race, according to the Swiss national skiing federation.

A bitterly disappointed Odermatt, who has dominated Alpine skiing for half a decade, came fourth in Saturday's downhill, the opening Alpine skiing race at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games.

Younger compatriot Franjo von Allmen, who claimed gold, will pair with slalom specialist Tanguy Nef, giving the deep Swiss squad more than one chance to reach Olympic glory in the combined event.

"Sometimes you need little defeats to enjoy the success even more again. We go again tomorrow," read a post on Odermatt's Instagram profile on Sunday.

Switzerland listed Alexis Monney with Daniel Yule, and Stefan Rogentin with Matthias Iten for its two remaining pairs.

Italy, which claimed silver and bronze on Saturday, also plans to list the maximum four teams for each individual nation, an Italian ski federation spokesman said. Italy has impressed at recent speed events, but it does not however enjoy the same strength in slalom as Switzerland or France.

COMBINED OFFERS TASTE OF TEAM SPIRIT

Once a staple of the Olympic programme, the combined race was in its original format an individual event meant to crown the all-rounder who could master the raw velocity of downhill and the technical precision of slalom.

However, the format making its Olympic debut on Monday requires participating nations to field same-gender teams of two athletes, one racing a downhill and the other a slalom, allowing skiers a rare taste of team spirit.

"It’s a different kind of pressure compared to an individual race. Individually, you’re fully responsible for your result. Here, you also depend on someone else. That creates really nice emotions," said French slalom specialist Steven Amiez.

FORMAT WAS TESTED AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

The relay format was tested at last year's World Ski Championships in Saalbach, Austria, where Switzerland made a clean sweep. Von Allmen won the combined event in pair with Meillard, who ranks seventh in slalom in the World Cup. Odermatt did not compete in the combined race.

While Switzerland remains the favourite, other nations may not be able to field many teams due to smaller squads or injuries. France will enter only three teams in the men's combined, ski coach Frederic Perrin said on Thursday.

Norway, which boasts three slalom specialists in the World Cup's top five, has a comparatively weaker speed team. Sweden, which has no male downhillers at the Games, will skip Monday's event.

SINGLE SLALOM RUN REQUIRES DIFFERENT STRATEGY

Monday's race will open with a downhill on the challenging Stelvio slope scheduled for 1030 CET, followed by a single slalom run at 1400 CET. The aggregate racing time of the two athletes will determine the team's final result.

"In slalom there are normally two runs, and things always happen across two runs. Here it’s just one," said France's Perrin. "That means the performance you need to produce is a bit different. We set up specific training situations for it," he added.

Even though France managed to place only one skier, Nils Allegre, in the top 10 on Saturday, Perrin was pinning high hopes on France being able to secure a medal at the team event. French slalomist Clement Noel ranks third in this season's World Cup standings while Paco Rassat is sixth.

"I know that Monday we have something big coming, something important for us," said Perrin. "That’s what I want to encourage the boys about, because I think we’re on the right track." REUTERS