Von Allmen's magical season continues in Crans-Montana Downhill as Swiss sweep podium again

Franjo von Allmen (SUI/Head)'s magical season continued with victory in the Crans-Montana Downhill on Saturday as Switzerland swept the podium once again.

On a course that rewarded the skiers who made the fewest errors, Marco Odermatt (SUI/Stöckli) in bib number 12 appeared to have done enough for victory with a near faultless run in a time of 1:56.20.

However, the man who had dethroned Odermatt as the Downhill world champion with victory at Saalbach 2025 was at it again on Saturday, racing with more aggression than any of his opponents and staying glued in his tuck position in a difficult mid-section to give himself an almost perfect start.

Von Allmen almost lost control on the final jump near the finish as he continued to live life on the edge, but held it together to record a time of 1:56.07 for his first Downhill World Cup victory of the season, pushing Odermatt into second (+0.13) and Alexis Monney (SUI/Stöckli) into third (+0.42). It meant the Swiss fans could celebrate a clean sweep on home snow on the slope that will host the next World Championships in 2027.

"It feels amazing, especially here in front of the home crowd and with two other Swiss guys on the podium," Von Allmen said.

"I had two or three little mistakes where I left my position, where the ski went not the way I wanted it to. In the end I was quite surprised that it was enough for first place."

Von Allmen started this season with just one top-10 Downhill finish to his name, but finished second in successive races in Val Garena/Groeden, Bormio and Wengen before registering his first Downhill victory on Saturday, which followed his first World Cup victory of any kind when he won the Wengen Super G last month.

As a result, Von Allmen has now taken some air out of Odermatt's lead in the Downhill standings, which is now down to 73 points.

"It feels amazing, especially the first win in Downhill and in front of the home crowd. It's really cool," the 23-year-old said.

Odermatt had endured a difficult World Championships by his own lofty standards, winning the Super G race to complete his overall set of golds across three disciplines but finishing fifth in the Downhill and fourth in the Giant Slalom later on in Saalbach.

The defending Crystal Globe winner in the Super G, Downhill, Giant Slalom and the Overall has largely had things his own way for the past three or four seasons, but the performances of Von Allmen - and the Swiss team at large - this season now means that even when the Alpine superstar has raced well, he's at times found himself on the wrong side of the results.

"Everyone wants to win and if you're leading a race you don't want to get second, that's for sure, but I did my very best,” Odermatt said.

“I had a perfect run, I gave it all. It was the maximum I could ski on this slope, on this hill. I had good intention and also good skiing so I was very happy with my performance.”

A humble Odermatt said of his team-mates: "It's incredible what they've shown us this year.

"They are ready for every race, also ready in every conditions on every hill. They have such high ground speed right now and it's really hard to beat them."

Swiss skiers won 13 out of the 33 medals on offer at Saalbach 2025, with the men doing particularly well as they won gold in three out of four of the individual races, and swept the podium in the men's Team Combined.

In the Downhill World Cup so far this season the Swiss have won all but one race - James Crawford (CAN/Head) standing top in Kitzbühel last month - and have now taken 12 of the 18 podium places from the six races we've had so far.

For Monney, Saturday's third-place finish was his third Downhill World Cup podium of the season after winning in Bormio and coming second behind Crawford in Kitzbühel.

"This is amazing – three Swiss on top today. It's crazy to be a part of this,” said Monney, who was out on the course early in bib number 6.

“There's a lot of people here and it's amazing.

"I knew it was a good run but then I know that Franjo is really fast and Odi (Odermatt) can always race fast. I wasn't sure (how good it was) but now I'm happy."

Odermatt said of the Swiss dominance this season: "It's unbelievable. We've already had some special races this season with two on the podium. They had one with the combined in Saalbach, and now to be there as well in a Downhill with three Swiss on the podium - it's a long time when this last happened."

Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT/Head) could not capitalise on the form that won him a silver medal in this event at Saalbach 2025, as he finished fourth in Crans-Montana (+0.81), while Florian Schieder (ITA/Atomic) finished fifth (+0.82) and Crawford took sixth spot (+0.84).

Odermatt now has 445 points at the top of the Downhill standings, with Von Allmen on 372 in second place and Monney in third on 260 points.

Asked about Switzerland’s secret to this success so far this season, Von Allmen said with a laugh: "I've had that question many times in the last few weeks. It's difficult to say, there are so many puzzle pieces that need to come together. In the end I can just say it's the good Swiss water maybe."