Alpine Skiing - FIS Alpine Ski World Cup - Men's Downhill - Crans-Montana, Switzerland - February 1, 2026 Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen in action REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Switzerland's Franjo Von Allmen won the last Alpine skiing World Cup race before the Milano Cortina Olympics with his second downhill victory of the season on home snow in Crans-Montana on Sunday.
The reigning world champion and last year's winner on the Piste Nationale started 15th on a sunny morning and beat Italy's early leader Dominik Paris by a hefty 0.65 of a second.
Ryan Cochran-Siegle of the United States finished third, 0.70 off the winner's pace, and back on the podium for the first time since December.
"I really like the slope. Pretty easy to ski but not easy to be fast," said Von Allmen.
"It (the win) gives a lot of confidence and I'll try to show also my best skiing in (Olympic venue) Bormio. This was really important for my head and going with a good feeling to Bormio."
Paris, who will carry plenty of national expectation next week, said his start could have been better but he went well through the middle section and over the bumps.
"Franjo is hard to beat because he is really fast on this terrain but I beat Odi (Marco Odermatt) today and that's a good feeling also."
Overall World Cup leader and big Swiss medal hope Odermatt was fourth, his first time off the podium in downhill since January 2025 -- a run of nine races.
"I'm very happy with my skiing and it was good to build up this energy and tension again after Kitzbuehel, where everything fell off," said Odermatt, who was second in that previous downhill in Austria but upset not to win.
"I'm going home tonight and have two nights at home. Rest a little bit and then on Tuesday we arrive in Bormio so there's not too much time to do a lot."
DOWNHILL OPENS OLYMPIC ALPINE PROGRAMME
The showcase men's downhill in Bormio will provide the first medals of the Olympic Alpine competition next Saturday, a day after the opening ceremony. Training starts on Wednesday.
Von Allmen is second to Odermatt in the downhill standings, 115 points behind his compatriot after six of nine races.
Odermatt has won three downhills so far with Italian rising star Giovanni Franzoni, only 23rd on Sunday, triumphant in Kitzbuehel.
The Swiss-Italian rivalry will be big in Bormio and was highlighted on Sunday by Switzerland having five skiers finish in the top 10 and Italy four, with only Cochran-Siegle crashing the party.
"I was just trying to ski with some joy and fun," said the American of his run. "It's an amazing slope. It's a challenge because you really have to put down a good run to be fun. I was just focused on enjoying it -- nice terrain on a sunny slope.
"Bormio will be really exciting... I'll enjoy these days, mentally enjoy what I'm doing well and take that with me and then obviously embrace the challenge that will be coming up this next week."
The race was interrupted towards the end when Chilean late-starter Henrik Von Appen crashed heavily and needed medical attention. He was put on a stretcher and lifted off the mountain by helicopter with no immediate word on his condition.
The race also bore constant reminders of the bar fire that claimed 40 lives in the Swiss resort this month.
The words "Our thoughts are with you" were written in white lettering on a black background across the front of the start hut and at the finish, replacing the usual sponsor branding.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in Cortina d'Ampezzo, editing by Alexander Smith and Christian Radnedge)
