CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Newly-crowned world champion Franjo Von Allmen led a Swiss podium sweep on home snow in a men’s World Cup Alpine Ski downhill at Crans-Montana in Switzerland.
Overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt was second, 0.13 slower, and world championship bronze medallist Alexis Monney third.
The victory was Von Allmen’s first in downhill in the World Cup and came after he won the world championship gold in Saalbach, Austria.
He also won a Wengen Super-G last month, his only previous World Cup win.
“The first World Cup victory in downhill, here with the home crowd and also with two Swiss guys on the podium just feels amazing,” Switzerland’s Von Allmen said according to Reuters.
Odermatt leads the downhill standings with 445 points to Von Allmen’s 372.
Overall, Odermatt increased his lead over Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen to 400 points as he chases a fourth successive crystal globe.
The standout Switzerland speed team has won five of the six World Cup downhills this season and placed runner-up in all six.
The last time Swiss men swept a World Cup downhill podium was in 1996 at nearby Veysonnaz when Bruno Kernen won.
When the Swiss national anthem played at the victory ceremony, Von Allmen, Odermatt and Monney took off their caps to reveal matching buzz-cut hair after the team-bonding haircuts they all had at the worlds held at Saalbach, Austria.
Switzerland threatens an era of downhill domination ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina d´Ampezzo Olympics. Odermatt is the oldest at 27 in an event where many racers typically peak in their 30s.
The Swiss trio also showed mastery of the Nationale course at Crans-Montana which will host the next world championships in 2027.
“It just feels amazing,” Von Allmen said, and was asked why Switzerland’s team was so good this season.
“Difficult to say, there are so many puzzles which need to (fit) together. The good Swiss weather, maybe,” Von Allmen added according to AP.
Von Allmen and Monney are having thrilling breakout seasons to back up Odermatt´s drive toward a fourth straight overall World Cup title.
“It´s incredible what they show us this year,” Odermatt said of his teammates. “They are really hard to beat. I had a perfect run, I gave it all.”
Odermatt earned 80 World Cup points to extend his lead in the overall standings to 400 ahead of Henrik Kristoffersen, who does not race in speed events.
With two World Cup downhill wins this season, Odermatt also leads the discipline standings by 73 from Von Allmen, who was runner-up in three races.
Von Allmen’s first career World Cup win was in a super-G last month, also in Switzerland at Wengen.
A standout race for the Swiss followed the announcement that teammate Niels Hintermann is clear of the lymph node cancer that kept him from racing this season. The 29-year-old Hintermann is a two-time winner in Wold Cup downhills.
Sunshine broke through the clouds on a 1 Celsius (34 degrees) day as Monney started wearing bib No. 6 to give him a clearer view of the course contours ahead.
He posted the fastest time racing to the finish line next to the chalet where the late James Bond actor Roger Moore lived.
