BORMIO, Italy, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen joined a very exclusive club of Alpine skiers as he powered to his third gold medal of the Milano Cortina Olympics with a super-G masterclass down the Stelvio on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old followed his gold in the downhill and team combined with another full throttle blast down the iconic Bormio track to win by 0.13 seconds from American Ryan Cochran-Siegle.
He is the first male Alpine skier since French great Jean-Claude Killy in Grenoble in 1968 to win three golds at the same Olympics -- Killy doing it in downhill, slalom and giant slalom.
Austria's Toni Sailer managed the same treble in 1956 in Cortina, while the only female skier to win three golds in one Games was Croatia's Janica Kostelic at Salt Lake City in 2002.
"For the moment I feel like I am dreaming. I hope I don't wake up, it's completely surreal what's going on today and the whole Olympics," a beaming Von Allmen told reporters.
"I was sure I wasn't up for gold. Maybe today I had a little bit of luck with the slope, with the snow, with the early bib (start). Maybe it was a little bit slower after me."
Von Allmen once again left his teammate Marco Odermatt in the shade. Odermatt has been the dominant male skier for five years and was tipped for multiple golds but had to settle for a bronze medal to add to his team combined silver.
Odermatt gave it everything but was ragged in the closing stages where Von Allmen was smooth, and came up 0.28 seconds short. His last chance for gold will be Saturday's giant slalom.
"I won bronze. You have to be happy if you win an Olympic medal but I wanted a little bit more. I wanted the gold," the 28-year-old said. "On the bottom I made some little mistakes, two or three times. That's where I lost the gold medal."
Cochran-Siegle was third starter and took advantage of the firmer early conditions on a mild morning, repeating the silver medal he took in super-G at the 2022 Beijing Games.
ON THE LIMIT
Seventh man out of the start gate, Von Allmen produced a typically aggressive run on a course that was 800 metres shorter than the one on which he won Saturday's downhill.
He nailed the upper sections and was on the limit in the lower section as no other skier could match his speed.
Von Allmen looked almost apologetic when Odermatt crossed the line with a slower time, but as the late runners came down, the reality of what he was achieving began to dawn.
Sitting next to Odermatt in the finish area, he held up three fingers to the TV cameras as the red-and-white-clad fans in the grandstand serenaded the new superstar of Swiss skiing.
While it was a joyous day for the Swiss, there was heartbreak for Italy's veteran Stelvio king Dominik Paris on what was likely his final Olympic run.
The crowds roared when he started his run but gasped when one of the 36-year-old's skis came off early in his run. Thankfully he avoided any physical damage.
"I don't know what happened, because it's a ski I always used in the races and it was always good," Paris, who got his first Olympic medal with bronze in the downhill, said. "I'm really happy with (the Olympics). Finally, I have my dream."
Fellow Italian Giovanni Franzoni, second in the downhill behind emerging rival Von Allmen, could only finish sixth but was full of praise for his fellow 24-year-old.
"Congrats to Franjo. What an amazing week he has had. And he is such a great guy and athlete. He's just so smooth," he said.
The men's Alpine skiing programme continues with Saturday's giant slalom and concludes with Monday's slalom.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
