Swiss skiers Franjo von Allmen and Tanguy Nef capture gold as team combined makes Olympic debut

BORMIO, Italy (AP) - Franjo von Allmen is a patient ski racer. He's not a patient spectator.

That's what the Swiss standout learned about himself Monday in picking up his second Olympic gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games.

In fourth place after his downhill run, von Allmen anxiously watched teammate Tanguy Nef from the bottom of the hill make up the deficit in the slalom to take the team combined title as the event made its Olympic debut.

Just like that, the team labeled Swiss-2 just became No. 1.

"Calm? What is that?" cracked von Allmen, who won the Olympic downhill over the weekend. "No, my knees were sweating. I was nervous, like I was never (nervous) in this season before. But Tanguy absolutely nailed it. ... Left me speechless."

Nef proved immune to pressure even if he'd never finished in the top-three of a World Cup race. He found speed on a rutted slalom course to help his team finish in a combined time of 2 minutes, 44.04 seconds. The Swiss-1 team of Marco Odermatt and Loic Meillard tied for silver with the Austrian-1 team of Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller. Both teams finished 0.99 seconds behind.

The team combined event involves one racer competing in a downhill run and another in a slalom, with their two times added up to determine the final results.

"Our plan was to give everything and give our best," Nef explained. "We both signed up for that. So, no pressure from him. I was focused on my skiing."

No bronze medal was awarded as a result of two teams finishing in a tie for silver. It made for a lopsided photo opportunity, with all six basically standing on one side of the podium.

New partner, same results for von Allmen. He won gold at world championships last February by uniting with Meillard. This time, based on rankings, he had Nef, who turned in a sensational run on a warm day along the Stelvio course. Nef had to make up a 0.42-second deficit on a course that was growing bumpier and bumpier. He did and von Allmen met him in the finish area to celebrate.

"Today, definitely, he did most of the work," von Allmen said. "Just amazing, just crazy."

It was a measure of atonement for Odermatt, who wound up a disappointing fourth in the downhill on Saturday.

"First, we were a little bit nervous it might be another fourth place," said Odermatt, an Olympic gold medalist in the giant slalom at the 2022 Beijing Games. "In the end, Loic made an amazing second run and secured us the medal. ... We already have our souvenir from the Olympics. We both have some more chances (events) to do and that helps us in the upcoming races."

Kriechmayr, 34, and Feller, 33, were seventh after the downhill, but Feller brought them back to silver.

"After my downhill, I never expected a medal," Kriechmayr said. "Manuel's run was pretty fast. He skied pretty good. (We were) lucky as well with the guys ahead struggling."

Giovanni Franzoni, the silver medalist in the downhill, had Italy-1 in first place after the opening run. Alex Vinatzer, the last racer on the course, struggled to settle into a rhythm and they fell to sixth.

"It's not as much how I'm feeling for me. I'm really sorry for Giovanni," Vinatzer said. "Because he deserved a medal very much with his downhill run. It was great. Regarding me, I tried to keep it simple, tried to keep it cool. The pressure got the best of me."

The Swiss swept gold, silver and bronze in the men's team combined at the world championships last February.

In the women's event slated for Tuesday, Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson will pair up. They combined to win the event at worlds. Johnson is the reigning Olympic downhill champion after winning Sunday.