Swiss joy as Franjo von Allmen wins first gold of Winter Olympics

MILAN – Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen claimed the first gold medal of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics as he blasted to victory in the men’s downhill on Feb 7, while skating sensation Ilia Malinin took to the ice for the first time.

After a glittering opening ceremony in Milan and in venues across the Italian Alps on Feb 6, all eyes were trained on the most prestigious of all the alpine skiing events in Bormio.

In bright sunshine, reigning world champion von Allmen mastered the fearsome Stelvio course while Marco Odermatt, his Swiss teammate and the pre-race favourite, could only finish fourth.

Von Allmen, 24, denied the host nation a first gold by finishing ahead of Italian pair Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris.

He made it look easy on the daunting Stelvio slope, but the path to gold has been far from smooth.

After the tragic loss of his father when he was 17, his burgeoning career was almost stalled by a lack of funding.

A trained carpenter, he turned to crowdfunding, allowing him to continue for one more season and it paid off. He was picked up by the Swiss team and the rest is history.

“Feels kind of like a movie, not really real,” a grinning von Allmen said.

He said only once the race had finished did he start thinking about the hard work that got him there.

“It’s incredibly beautiful, and also the thought of your team, your family, that have supported you for so long and helped you on your way here,” he said in a press conference.

“Right now this medal is just an honour for me to be here.”

Lindsey Vonn will go for an unlikely Olympic medal in the women’s downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Jan 8, after the 41-year-old American again defied a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament to complete her second training run.

Malinin made his eagerly awaited Olympics debut but he was upstaged by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama who led the men’s short programme in the team event to keep the pressure on the Americans, the defending champions.

The 21-year-old Malinin, a two-time world champion, was below his best in his medley from “The Lost Crown” video game, but produced a crowd-pleasing backflip.

“I’m pretty happy with what I did because that’s only 50 per cent of my full potential,” said Malinin.

“I wasn’t expecting to go out here and win the competition, that was not my goal here for the team event. I just felt excited to be here. Come on, it’s the Olympics!”

The team competition concludes on Jan 8, after the free skating finals.

Speed skater Francesca Lollobrigida won an emotional first gold medal of these Games for the host nation on her 35th birthday.

Lollobrigida, who is distantly related to the late Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, broke the Olympic record in the women’s 3,000 metres, clocking 3min 54.28sec.

Once her victory was confirmed, she scooped up her young son Tommaso in her arms after a volunteer had sprinted the length of the arena to deliver him to her.

In Livigno, China’s freeski superstar Eileen Gu survived a scare to reach the Jan 9 final of the women’s slopestyle as defending Olympic champion Mathilde Gremaud topped the qualifiers.

Double Olympic champion Gu lost her balance on the first rail during her initial run, but rescued herself in her second run, scoring 75.30 to climb into second place.

She revealed afterwards her mother had fed her snacks and told her to “wake up and get it together”.

Under the lights, Kira Kimura won Japan’s first-ever men’s snowboard big air Olympic gold, producing a stunning final run under pressure to edge out compatriot Ryoma Kimata.

Defending Olympic champion Su Yiming of China had to settle for bronze.

Said Kimura: “I’ve devoted a lot of time to snowboarding this year. My family, coach and everyone around me gave me tremendous support, so I’m truly delighted to have achieved this result and prove the doubters wrong.”

The opening ski jumping gold, the women’s individual normal hill title, went to Norway’s Anna Odine Stroem, who soared furthest into the night air in Predazzo.

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee said it hoped for “fair play” after US Vice-President J.D. Vance was booed by spectators at the opening ceremony.

The boos and whistles came when Mr Vance and his wife Usha were shown on a large screen at the San Siro stadium in Milan, applauding as the US athletes filed past in the parade. The American team itself was given a warm reception.

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said: “I was in the stadium last night and we’re largely a sports organisation and seeing the US team cheered as they were by the audience, fair play, that was fantastic.

“In general, I would say at sporting events, we like to see fair play.”

Demonstrators and police clashed following a march through Milan in protest at the Winter Olympics and its environmental impact.

Police dispersed them with water cannons. AFP, REUTERS