Von Allmen and Nef Claim Historic Team Combined Gold as Switzerland Dominates Olympic Podium

In a dramatic culmination of the men's team combined event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen and Tanguy Nef produced a combined time of 2:44.04 Olympics to claim gold on Monday at the Stelvio Ski Centre.

The victory makes von Allmen the first double gold medallist of these Games, following his downhill triumph just two days earlier. For his partner Nef, it marked his first-ever Olympic medal Olympics.

The team combined event, making its Olympic debut in Italy, requires two racers from the same nation to complete a downhill and slalom run, with the fastest aggregate time earning victory. After the morning downhill session, the Swiss pairing sat in fourth position, trailing Italy's Giovanni Franzoni and Alex Vinatzer. Von Allmen had posted the fourth-fastest downhill time, leaving significant ground to make up.

The morning session belonged to the host nation. Italy’s rising star Giovanni Franzoni, still riding the high of his downhill silver from Saturday, tore through the Stelvio course to set the fastest time (1:51.80). At the halfway point, the Italians held a slim lead, while von Allmen sat in fourth, +0.42 seconds back.

However, the afternoon slalom belonged to Tanguy Nef. With the pressure of von Allmen’s double-gold quest on his shoulders, Nef delivered a "dynamite" run. His time of 51.82 was the fastest slalom leg of the day, propelling the Swiss duo to a total time of 2:44.04—nearly a full second clear of the field.

What followed in the slalom was a masterclass from Nef. The slalom specialist delivered a blistering run to vault his team from fourth to first, proving that consistency under pressure can trump individual brilliance.

The medal ceremony will require extra space. In an extraordinary twist, there was a thrilling tie for the silver medal, with Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller and Switzerland's Marco Odermatt and Loïc Meillard producing an identical time of 2:45.03 Olympics, just 0.99 seconds behind the winners.

For Odermatt, the runaway World Cup overall leader, it represents a bittersweet moment—another medal, but not the gold he had targeted. His strong downhill run had positioned his partnership in contention, but Meillard couldn't match Nef's explosive slalom performance.

The Austrian duo finally broke through after years of near-misses, with the 34-year-old Kriechmayr earning his first Olympic medal in his seventh Olympic race.

The most dramatic storyline unfolded in the final moments. Italy had led after the downhill session thanks to Franzoni's pace-setting run, raising hopes of a home-nation gold medal. But those dreams dissolved when Vinatzer, skiing last with the pressure of an entire nation on his shoulders, faltered badly in the slalom.

Rather than securing Italy's position atop the podium, Vinatzer's struggle saw the Italian pairing plummet from first to seventh place, completely out of medal contention. The home crowd's roar of anticipation turned to stunned silence as their medal hopes evaporated in real time.

The event showcased the unique drama of team competition—where one athlete's brilliance can be undone by a partner's difficulties, and where Switzerland's depth across both disciplines proved the decisive factor in claiming not just gold, but silver as well.