Milan (Italy) (AFP) – Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen claimed the first gold medal of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics as he blasted to victory in the men’s downhill on Saturday, hours after the Games opened. After a glittering ceremony in Milan and in venues across the Italian Alps on Friday, all eyes were trained on the most prestigious of all the alpine skiing events in Bormio. In bright sunshine, reigning world champion Von Allmen mastered the fearsome Stelvio course while Marco Odermatt, his Swiss teammate and the pre-race favourite, could only finish fourth. Von Allmen, 24, denied the host nation by finishing 0.20sec ahead of Italian Giovanni Franzoni and another Italian, Dominik Paris, who took bronze.
“At the moment I can’t tell you in words what it means to me, at the moment it feels like a movie,” a grinning Von Allmen said. Lindsey Vonn’s dream of Olympic medal glory remains intact after the American ski star again defied a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament to complete her second training run in the women’s downhill. Vonn, 41, will go for an unlikely gold medal in Sunday’s final.
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After the Italian disappointment in the men’s downhill, speed skater Francesca Lollobrigida won an emotional first gold medal of these Games for the hosts. Lollobrigida, who is distantly related to the late Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, secured the title by smashing the Olympic record in the women’s 3,000 metres event, clocking 3min 54.28sec. Once her victory was confirmed, the 35-year-old Italian ran off the ice to gather her young son Tommaso in her arms after a volunteer had sprinted the length of the arena to deliver him to her.
In Livigno, China’s freeski superstar Eileen Gu survived a scare to reach Monday’s final of the women’s slopestyle as defending Olympic champion Mathilde Gremaud topped the qualifiers. Double Olympic champion Gu lost her balance on the first rail during her initial run, putting her under intense pressure, with only the top 12 competitors progressing based on the better of their two runs. But Gu rescued herself in her second run, scoring 75.30 to climb into second place. She revealed afterwards her mother had fed her snacks and told her to “wake up and get it together”.
US figure skating star Ilia Malinin takes to the ice for the first time in these Olympics to spearhead his nation’s bid to retain the team event title when he performs in the men’s singles short programme section. The Americans are leading after the first day of action thanks to a strong performance from world champion ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates. They compete in the free dance on Saturday. The team competition concludes on Sunday after the free skating finals.
Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee said it hoped for “fair play” after US Vice President JD Vance was booed at the opening ceremony. The boos and whistles came when Vance and his wife Usha were shown on a large screen at the San Siro stadium, both applauding and waving flags as the US athletes filed past in the parade. The US team itself was loudly applauded. IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said: “I was in the stadium last night and we’re largely a sports organisation and seeing the US team cheered as they were by the audience, fair play, that was fantastic. In general, I would say at sporting events, we like to see fair play.”
Demonstrators and police clashed following a march through Milan in protest at the Winter Olympics and its environmental impact. Police dispersed them with water cannons following an otherwise peaceful protest.
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