Winter Olympics 2026: Franjo von Allmen wins first gold of Games in downhill

Swiss skiers had held all three podium positions before the Italians entered the start gate, with Franzoni and Paris knocking off Alexis Monney and then Odermatt with impressive performances in sunny Bormio.

Paris is seen as a king of this course, having won seven World Cup titles across both downhill and the Super-G, and he won a first Olympic medal at his fifth Games.

“Getting the first medal in front of the home crowd, that’s really special,” he said.

But for the Italians, their medal success comes in what has been an emotionally difficult season, five months after the death of their team-mate Matteo Franzoso in a training crash.

Franzoso suffered a head injury in a collision with a fence in La Parva, Chile, in September.

Last month, after winning World Cup gold at prestigious Kitzbuhel, Franzoni said he had raced with Franzoso “in his mind” after the two had shared a room at the course a year previously.

“To share the podium with Franjo, after [doing so at] the junior world championships [in 2022], he’s such a great guy,” said Franzoni.

“Also with Domi, I really wanted to share a podium with him. I don’t know if he’ll continue racing next year but this is the biggest stage to share.”

As a junior, Franzoni used to race against Jannik Sinner, who was a standout skier before pursuing tennis.

In fact, Sinner, now a four-time Grand Slam champion, once beat Franzoni in 2009, something he was made aware of after the latter’s super-G victory in Wengen earlier this year.

Sinner followed Franzoni on social media and the pair have since struck up a friendship.

“Receiving a message from a champion like him gave me a lot of motivation,” said Franzoni after his Kitzbuhel win.

“I thought, ‘If he wrote to me, it means I’m doing something right’. It’s been something really, really nice for me.”