Deromedis, fifth at Beijing 2022, said: “For the first time in history we did the first race of the season, one or two, the double podium is absolute, and to do it at the Olympics, I want to say it’s great, better than this, we couldn’t go (better).”
It was Fiva’s second medal after Beijing 2022 silver.
The 40-year-old said: “It went good, I have a medal. It was a really tough race. It was crazy, exhausting. My legs were burning after the first round.”
In the first quarterfinal, Deromedis and Tomasoni, plus teammate Dominik Zuech (ITA), froze out favorite Reece Howden (CAN), ending the three-time Crystal Globe winner’s hopes of a first Olympic medal as he finished fourth.
Coming into his first Olympics, Tomasoni had never been on the World Cup podium, and neither had Furuno, who finished 26th at Beijing 2022.