Von Allmen bags 1st gold for Switzerland

Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen claimed the first gold medal of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics as he blasted to victory in the men’s downhill on Saturday, while skating sensation Ilia Malinin took to the ice for the first time.

- 

After a glittering opening ceremony in Milan and in venues across the Italian Alps on Friday, all eyes were trained on the most prestigious of all the alpine skiing events in Bormio.

In bright sunshine, reigning world champion Von Allmen mastered the fearsome Stelvio course while Marco Odermatt, his Swiss teammate and the pre-race favourite, could only finish fourth.

Von Allmen, 24, denied the host nation a first gold by finishing ahead of Italian pair Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris.

“At the moment it feels like a movie,’ a grinning Von Allmen said.

Malinin made his eagerly awaited Olympics debut but he was upstaged by Japan's Yuma Kagiyama who led the men’s short programme in the team event to keep the pressure on the Americans, the defending champions.