Downhill, Men

The first Alpine skiing event at this Olympics was the men’s downhill, which was held in a traditional skiing resort after many years. The Bormio downhill race was a regular host of the Alpine skiing World Cup, usually held between Christmas and New Year. In the 2025/26 season the race had not been held as part of the World Cup and racers and officials said that the conditions in February were noticeably different for light and snow than in December.

The ongoing World Cup season had seen six downhill races won by three different racers, Marco Odermatt (SUI) won in Beaver Creek, Val Gardena 1, and Wengen; Franjo von Allmen (SUI) was the winner in Val Gardena 2 and won the last race before the Games in Crans Montana; while Giovanni Franzoni (ITA) secured his win in Kitzbühel. The standings right before the Olympics saw Odermatt in the lead followed by von Allmen, Dominik Paris (ITA), and Franzoni. Paris also held the record of six World Cup downhill wins at Bormio, in 2012, 2017, 2018, twice in 2019, and 2021. The last three winners at Bormio had been Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr (2022), France’s Cyprien Sarrazin (2023), who was not able to compete after a bad crash in the last training run here in Bormio in 2024, and Swiss skier Alexis Monney (2024). Switzerland dominated the downhill over the last years as Odermatt was the 2023 World Champion and won the Crystal Globe in 2024 and 2025, while his compatriot von Allmen was the reigning World Champion from 2025.

The three training runs held on the three days before the race were topped by Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA), Mattia Casse (ITA) (fastest time of all with 1:52.85), and Jack Crawford (CAN), but all three did not factor on race day. The course setter was Austrian Hannes Trinkl, himself a winner of the Bormio World Cup downhill in 2000.

Only 36 participants started the race, which was the fewest number ever for this event after Beijing 2022, when only 42 started. After 10 starters three Swiss racers were in the lead with von Allmen, Odermatt, and Monney, but the Italians did not allow a clean sweep when Franzoni (bib #11) came in second and starting right after him Paris came in for bronze. This made Paris the second oldest Alpine skiing medallist ever with only France’s Johan Clarey older in 2022.

Von Allmen won the race with an average speed of 111.02 km/hr and was 6.16 m in front of Franzoni at the finishing line. The podium was shared by three different manufacturers with Head (gold), Rossignol (silver), and Nordica (bronze).