Talisman Marco Odermatt had been expected to lead Switzerland’s assault on the fabled Stelvio slope that provided a fitting stage for the action, but the 28-year-old four-time World Cup overall champion was left in the shade by young gun von Allmen, albeit still returning home with three medals.
Odermatt badly wanted the Olympic downhill title but could not match the pace of von Allmen down the brutal 3.2km track, finishing off the podium in fourth place.
The 24-year-old von Allmen became the fifth Swiss man to win the Olympic downhill title, edging out Italian Giovanni Franzoni, while veteran Dominik Paris grabbed an emotional bronze in his final Games.
Von Allmen was at it again two days later, although he needed a considerable amount of help from Tanguy Nef, whose sparkling slalom run clinched more Swiss gold in the new-format team combined, with Odermatt and partner Meillard sharing silver with Austrians Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller.
Now on an unstoppable roll, von Allmen then won the super-G to become the first male Alpine skier to win three gold medals at a single Olympics since Jean-Claude Killy in 1968.
Odermatt had one last chance to take gold but could not successfully defend the giant slalom title he won in Beijing, as he was edged out by the flamboyant Pinheiro Braathen, who danced through the gates to land gold for Brazil — South America’s first-ever Winter Olympic medal.
Nothing encapsulated the razor-thin divide between Olympic joy and heartache more than the slalom race.