USA’s silver medalist Ryan Cochran-Siegleon, Switzerland’s gold medalist Franjo von Allmen, and Switzerland’s bronze medalist Marco Odermatt pose with their medals on the podium of the men’s super-G alpine skiing event during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio on Wednesday.DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images
Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen emerged as the king of the slopes in the Milan Cortina Winter Games with his third gold medal in the alpine events in four days.
The 24-year-old became an instant Swiss national hero midday on Wednesday in Bormio with a super-G win. Only two days earlier, he won gold in the team combined event, and on Feb. 7, he took gold in the downhill.
He may have to retract the remarks he made on Monday, when he modestly downplayed his performances. “I don’t really feel like the alpine star here in the Olympics,” he said. “I need a little more time to put those feelings into place.”
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He has run out of time. The Olympics have thrust star status into his face whether or not he is prepared for it. He becomes the fourth skier to win three gold medals at one Winter Olympics. After his father died when von Allmen was 17, his village crowdfunded his racing career, an investment that has paid off with spectacular results.
Gold medallist von Allmen celebrates during the victory ceremony.Denis Balibouse/Reuters
His legendary Swiss colleague, Marco Odermatt, took bronze in the super-G. The stunning performance by Ryan Cochran-Siegle of the U.S. handed him silver. He lost to von Allmen by a mere 0.13 seconds. At the Beijing Olympics in 2022, Cochran-Siegle also won silver. At 33, Milan Cortina is likely the American’s last Olympics.
The Canadian who placed best in the super-G was Jack Crawford, finishing 16th among the 42 contenders. His colleague Cameron Alexander tied for 17th position. Vancouver’s Brodie Seger came 22nd and Riley Seger, his brother, did not finish.
The Canadian men’s alpine team has not had a good Olympics so far. Crawford was considered a podium contender, but the competition from the Swiss, the Austrians, the Americans and the Italians has proven to be formidable. The Italians placed second and third in the downhill that saw von Allmen win his first gold.
James Crawford during his run in the men’s Super-G final in Bormio.Fabrizio Troccoli/The Globe and Mail
The super-G is a crowd-pleaser of a race that combines high speeds, like the downhill, with more gates than that event. The racers have to be highly skilled in speed and turning ability.
In some ways, the super-G is the tougher race when compared to the downhill. In the downhill, there are three training runs. In the super-G, there are none – the race is it. “It’s all or nothing,” said Neil McQuoid, the owner and editor of Britain’s Racer Ready ski site. “There is no pre-race training for this event.”
Super-G races are typically run on the same course as downhills; they just start farther down the mountain. In Bormio, the Italian Olympic town that is hosting the men’s Alpine events, the downhill had a vertical drop of 1010 metres. The super-G drop was 715 metres.
Super-G was first run as an official event at the World Cup in 1982 in Val-d’Isère, France, and made its Olympic debut in Calgary in 1988.
The sport’s most famous practitioner was Austria’s Hermann Maier – the “Herminator” – who nailed 24 World Cup wins, a World Championship and an Olympic gold in 1998. He was a highly aggressive athlete and formidably tough, always opting for the most direct and dangerous fall line down the slopes. In 2001, a motorcycle accident nearly sheared off his lower right leg. Miraculously, he came back as strong as ever, winning eight more super-G World Cups before retiring in 2009.