Swiss ski racer Franjo von Allmen wins super-G for 3rd Olympic gold at Milan Cortina Games

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BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland joined elite ski-racing company by winning the men’s super-G on Wednesday for his third Olympic gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games.

Finding a fast line, von Allmen finished in a time of 1 minute, 25.32 seconds along the Stelvio course to beat American Ryan Cochran-Siegle by 0.13 seconds. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland captured bronze on a warm day.

The 24-year-old von Allmen became the third men's Alpine ski racer to win three events at one Winter Olympics. The other two are legends of the sport, Jean-Claude Killy of France, who won three at the 1968 Grenoble Games, and Austrian Anton “Toni” Sailer, a three-time winner at the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

Von Allmen won the downhill on Saturday and paired with Tanguy Nef to win the inaugural team combined event Monday.

After his smooth run, von Allmen made a motion with his gloves almost as if to indicate it might not be enough. He playfully stuck out his tongue, too. He was the seventh racer and plenty of big names were still to fly down the mountain.

It turned out to be enough as he made even more history — the first men's racer from ski-crazed Switzerland to win the Olympic super-G.

“I have to be very honest, as a boy that was not necessarily my dream to become a winner at the Olympics,” von Allmen recently said. “I was a skier because I really enjoyed it.”

It's another Olympic medal for Cochran-Siegle, who also earned silver in the super-G at the 2022 Beijing Games. It's also another medal for his family as his mom, Barbara, captured gold in the slalom at the 1972 Sapporo Games. He comes from a long line of skiers.

Odermatt, a four-time overall World Cup champion, added bronze to his silver in the team event. He was fourth in the downhill over the weekend.

After finishing as the 10th racer on the course, Odermatt bent down and began shaking his head.

His place on the medal stand held up. The Italian duo of Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris — the silver and bronze downhill medalists — couldn't knock Odermatt off the podium. Franzoni took sixth while Paris was a “did not finish” after equipment issues. He was in the middle of a fast run when his right ski popped off its binding. He fell to the snow and slid to a stop before hiking back up to retrieve his ski.

Odermatt is the reigning Olympic champion in the next event on the men's program, the giant slalom.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics