SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria — In a remarkable display of talent, Franjo von Allmen secured his second world title, while Loic Meillard claimed his fourth medal at the world championships as the Swiss duo triumphed in the newly introduced team combined event on Wednesday.
They achieved a Swiss podium clean sweep, finishing 0.27 seconds ahead of the silver medalists Alexis Monney and Tanguy Nef, while Stefan Rogentin and Marc Rochat took home the bronze, 0.43 seconds adrift.
“This is absolutely incredible; having three Swiss teams on the podium is exceptional,” said Meillard, who competed in the slalom after Von Allmen had raced the downhill event roughly three hours earlier.
“It feels like the entire team is on cloud nine,” he added, reflecting on his prior accolades of one silver and two bronzes at previous championships.
Upon waiting for Nef to complete his run, Monney exuberantly jumped over barriers to embrace his teammate as the Swiss celebration commenced following their silver medal finish. “It’s unbelievably exciting, not just for my performance but for the entire Swiss team,” Monney expressed. “Being on the podium alongside six Swiss skiers is a historic moment.”
Earlier that day, Monney recorded the fastest time in the downhill portion, granting Nef a slight edge of 0.02 seconds over Meillard to begin the slalom. However, Meillard’s slalom performance was nearly three-tenths of a second quicker than that of Nef.
“I felt much more nervous than when racing individually,” Meillard shared. “You want to deliver for your teammate as well.”
This accomplishment marks the first Swiss sweep of a men’s podium at the world championships since the 1987 event in Crans Montana, where Peter Mueller, Pirmin Zurbriggen, and Karl Alpiger clinched gold, silver, and bronze in the downhill.
Highlighting the prowess of Swiss alpine skiing, Swiss racers took the top six positions in a downhill event on the lower-ranked European Cup circuit earlier on Wednesday.
The victory in the team combined marks the third gold for the Swiss contingent at these championships, having previously won golds in the super-G and downhill, while Monney secured a bronze in the downhill. Additionally, Switzerland earned silver in the mixed-team parallel event last week.
“It’s just incredible,” remarked Von Allmen, who is enjoying a breakout season with four World Cup podium finishes, including a victory in super-G at Wengen.
The 23-year-old expressed his astonishment regarding his recent successes. “I’m still content with any top-10 result; that’s a significant achievement for me in my second World Cup season,” he noted. “What’s happening here is beyond words.”
Von Allmen faced challenges early in his downhill run as he strayed off the racing line and skied into soft snow outside the designated path. He managed to regain his speed and minimize his time loss.
“That happens sometimes, but I tried my best,” said Von Allmen. “At the end, I focused on Loic and pushed myself to give everything.”
He humorously added that he felt “a bit more space in his helmet” after he and the Swiss downhill team had shaved their heads to celebrate their triumphs in a previous downhill event.
Although Marco Odermatt did not compete in the team combined, choosing instead to prepare for the upcoming giant slalom on Friday, he attended the event to join in the festivities.
The team combined format involves one skier competing in a downhill run while another races in a slalom, with their combined times determining the final rankings.
This team combined event is set to debut at the upcoming Milan-Cortina Olympics.
The American duo of Ryan Cochran-Siegle in the downhill and Benjamin Ritchie in the slalom finished fourth, narrowly missing out on a medal by just 0.26 seconds. This followed the previous day’s gold medal win by Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson in the women’s event.
Cochran-Siegle came close to replicating the success of his mother, Barbara Cochran, who secured a silver medal in slalom at the 1970 world championships. Both mother and son are Olympic medalists, with him winning super-G silver in 2022 and her clinching slalom gold fifty years ago.
Italy’s team finished 0.46 seconds behind, with Dominik Paris and Alex Vinatzer taking part in the combined. However, Vinatzer was unable to complete his slalom run due to straddling a gate, marking one of nine slalom skiers who did not finish. Olympic slalom gold medalist Clement Noel of France and World Cup champion Manuel Feller of Austria were also among those who straddled.
The next competition on the schedule is the women’s giant slalom on Thursday, where defending champion Shiffrin will not compete as she does not feel prepared following her crash in November.
