Swiss skier Franjo von Allmen wins first gold medal at Milan Cortina Games

The first gold medal of 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games was awarded Saturday in the men’s downhill race.

On a perfect day in Bormio, Swiss runner Franjo von Allmen completed the challenging course in 1 minute, 51.61 seconds.

His time was good enough to hold off the challenge from Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni, who finished 0.2 seconds behind von Allmen to take the silver medal. Franzoni’s teammate Dominik Paris had a fast race to take bronze and knock Marco Odermatt of the Swiss team off the podium.

The highest-ranked American in men’s downhill was Kyle Negomir, who finished tenth.

Sweden goes 1-2 in women’s skiathlon

Team Sweden has a strong showing in the women’s 10km+10km skiathlon, taking gold and silver on Saturday at the Tesero cross-country ski stadium in Val di Fiemme, Italy.

Frida Karlsson rose to the top of the podium, covering the 20 kilometer (just over 12 miles) course in 53 minutes and 45.2 seconds.

Her teammate, two-time world champion Ebba Andersson, crossed the finish line 51 seconds later. Heidi Weng of Norway took bronze.

A Swedish or Norwegian woman has won the gold medal in skiathlon at the last five Winter Olympics.

Team USA’s Jessie Diggins finished eighth, more than three minutes behind Karlsson.