The Albany Gazette - Downhill world champion Von Allmen eyes Olympics - and sausage

And the 23-year-old is hoping the butcher's shop in his small home village of Boltigen, southwest of Swiss capital Bern, will now create a second top-of-the-podium sausage to commemorate his triumph in the Austrian resort of Saalbach on Sunday.

"Now a gold one, I hope so!" said Von Allmen, a trained carpenter who spends part of the summer working construction sites.

"For me it's important to bring something different in my head. Then I can focus again in the winter."

He underlined his looming rise to prominence on the World Cup circuit -- where he has one victory to his name in the Wengen super-G -- by upstaging a host of more experienced rivals to clinch gold in the blue riband event, his first global title.

Von Allmen timed 1min 40.68sec down the 2.9km-long Schneekristall course as teammate and defending champion Marco Odermatt, winner of Friday’s super-G, finished fifth.

Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr, the 2021 world champion, claimed silver at 0.24sec, with another Swiss racer, 25-year-old Alexis Monney, rounding out the podium a further seven-hundredths adrift.

"I didn't expect it at all," said Von Allmen, whose rise to notoriety is so recent he is yet to get his own Wikipedia page in English.

"But yeah, at the end it worked out really well and I'm really happy with it."

The Swiss team had a day to remember as five racers made the top 12.

"One day it's Odermatt, one day it's another athlete and with Monney on the podium today, it's pretty amazing," Von Allmen said.

"We will enjoy this moment a lot with two Swiss guys on the podium. I think it's going to be a big party tonight!"

- Enjoy the moment -

Von Allmen's victory, Monney's bronze and Odermatt's form fell perfectly for the Swiss as they hone preparations with an eye on next year's Winter Olympics in Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo.

"We'll enjoy the moment. We will see what happens next year or for the upcoming races," he said.

Monney added: "We did a really good job, the whole team, it's really cool.

"It would have been better to get three on the podium, but yeah, I'm happy, and with Franjo, he's a really cool guy, so it's amazing."

Monney revealed that his roomate Von Allmen was a certified snorer, but "while we are in the same flat, there are two bedrooms, so I don't hear him!"

Team leader Odermatt, he said, had been instrumental in his and Von Allmen's development as ski racers.

"He has no secrets for the whole team and he's always telling us which line he's going to take," Monney said.

"We're exchanging a lot in our team and maybe it's also why it's working so well."

Odermatt, starting with bib number 13, said that when he was informed that the podium finishers -- who had all departed the start hut ahead of him -- had all had good runs down, he knew he had to take risks to entertain a chance of muscling into the medals.

"I skied full gas, but I sadly did two, three mistakes and on a downhill like here you cannot win," he said.

Odermatt added: "My young teammates did an incredible job. If I don't win, they do, so that's good!

"We are talking a lot. We analyse everything together. We try to help each other, so for sure we are good mates."

As for Von Allmen, Odermatt said: "He's a crazy guy! He doesn't think much, he just goes always full speed and if everything goes well, like today, he can win every race, so he's going to be a big, big rival for the future."

Silver medallist Kriechmayr hailed the Swiss team, which he said had been "incredible over the whole season".

"I knew I'd have to show my best skiing to compare with them, to beat them and today just one was better than me but congratulations to Franjo, well deserved but I'm still happy with my second place.

"It's fantastic to watch them skiing, they made me keep pushing to get better every day and that's what you need."

(B.Smith--TAG)