Swiss ski racer Franjo von Allmen wins super-G for 3rd Olympic gold at Milan Cortina Games

BORMIO, Italy — Franjo von Allmen shrugged his shoulders and gestured with his gloves to indicate that he didn't feel his run was good enough for gold. Maybe not even good enough for any medal. He playfully stuck out his tongue as well.

But it was enough. It was enough for history, too.

The 24-year-old Swiss racer joined elite ski-racing company by winning the men's super-G on Wednesday for his third Olympic gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games.

Von Allmen became the third men's Alpine ski racer to win three events at one Winter Olympics. The other two are legends of the sport, Jean-Claude Killy of France, who won three at the 1968 Grenoble Games, and Austrian Anton ''Toni'' Sailer, a three-time winner at the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

''It sounds stupid, but I'm not really interested in what's on the paper,'' von Allmen said of equaling records. "For me, I'm really trying to enjoy the Olympics here, and maybe in a few years it will be important for me. For now, it isn't really.''

Von Allmen, the seventh racer on the course, found a fast line on snow growing softer and softer in the warming weather to finish in a time of 1 minute, 25.32 seconds. He beat American Ryan Cochran-Siegle by 0.13 seconds, while von Allmen's teammate, Marco Odermatt, captured bronze.

''I maybe had a little bit of luck with the bib (number) and the snow,'' said von Allmen, who became the first men's racer from ski-crazed Switzerland to win the Olympic super-G.

''When you're on, you're on," Cochran-Siegle said. ''He did an awesome job.''

It's another Olympic medal for the 33-year-old Cochran-Siegle, who also earned silver in the super-G at the 2022 Beijing Games. It's also another medal for his family as his mom, Barbara, captured gold in the slalom at the 1972 Sapporo Games. She happened to be in the crowd on Wednesday, too.

''Must be something in the water back home in Vermont,'' Cochran-Siegle cracked. ''It's crazy that we're sitting here with another successful Olympics.''

Cochran-Siegle overcame a stomach bug on his way to silver, one that hit him hard before the downhill race when he finished 18th. He said he threw up in the gondola and again two hours before Saturday's start.

He felt back to health for the super-G.

Odermatt, a four-time overall World Cup champion, added bronze to his silver in the team event. He was fourth in the downhill over the weekend.

After finishing as the 10th racer on the super-G course, Odermatt bent down and began shaking his head. He wasn't confident his time would hold up. Little did he realize the snow conditions would make it tough for anyone to take his bronze.

''The slope got slower and slower, so the guys behind didn't really have the chance to ski much faster,'' Odermatt said. ''So that was on my side.''

The Italian duo of Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris — the silver and bronze downhill medalists — couldn't knock Odermatt off the podium. Franzoni took sixth while Paris was a ''did not finish'' after equipment issues. He was in the middle of a fast run when his right ski popped off its binding. He fell to the snow and slid to a stop before hiking back up to retrieve his ski.

"It's a bit heavy for me to accept that, but what do you do?'' Paris said.

''No,'' said von Allmen, who has only raced one World Cup GS race and didn't finish. ''I will let the guys do (the GS) which can ski in GS.''

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