Franjo von Allmen captured his third gold medal in five days at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, winning the men's super-G on Wednesday. The 24-year-old Swiss clocked 1:25.32 in Bormio to join Austria's Toni Sailer (1956) and France's Jean-Claude Killy (1968) as the only men to sweep three alpine events at a single Games. He previously won downhill gold and the inaugural team combined event with Tanguy Nef.
Von Allmen shrugged off his achievement, saying: 'It sounds stupid but I'm not interested in what is on the paper. Maybe in a few years it will be important. For now, it isn't really.' He added: 'I feel like I am dreaming. I hope I don't wake up.' The victory made him Switzerland's first men's Olympic super-G champion.
American Ryan Cochran-Siegle took silver, 0.13 seconds behind, while Switzerland's Marco Odermatt won bronze. Cochran-Siegle's medal marked the third skiing podium for the University of Vermont in 24 hours. His mother Barbara, a 1972 Olympic slalom champion, watched from the crowd. 'Must be something in the water back home,' he joked.
French skier Nils Allègre missed bronze by three hundredths of a second, finishing fourth. Starting first with no benchmark, he delivered what he called one of his finest runs. 'I'm furious, that's for sure. It's hard, very hard,' he said. 'I gave everything with bib No 1 and without any reference, and I'm three hundredths off. It's extremely tough.'
In moguls, Australia's Jakara Anthony, the defending Olympic champion, made a costly mistake in the super final. After leading the first final run with 83.96 points, she skidded midway through the decisive run and scored 60.81, missing the podium. 'I'm bummed,' she said. 'I really had what it took to take that top step.'
