Milan (Italy) (AFP) – Swiss skier Franjo von Allmen joined the Olympic greats on Wednesday by winning his third gold medal of the Milan-Cortina Games, while Chloe Kim stayed on track to make her own history in snowboarding. On the slopes in Bormio, Von Allmen was victorious in the super-G event, adding that gold to his titles in the downhill and the team combined. Von Allmen entered the pantheon of Olympic male alpine skiing greats to have won three events at one Games, alongside Austrian Toni Sailer at the 1956 Winter Games, and France’s Jean-Claude Killy in 1968. Croatia’s Janica Kostelic is the only woman to have achieved the feat, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Von Allmen hit speeds of 120km/h (75mph) in the super-G, an event that combines the speed of downhill with the precise turns of giant slalom. American Ryan Cochran-Siegle won silver in the event for a second successive Games while Switzerland’s defending world champion Marco Odermatt rounded out the podium, picking up a medal after his bitter disappointment at missing out in the downhill.
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US superstar Chloe Kim began her quest for her own piece of history as she tries to become the first snowboarder — man or woman — to win three gold medals at consecutive Olympics. Two athletes have missed the chance to do so earlier in the Games in Italy, but in her first appearance at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, Kim produced a sparkling run to top qualifying for the halfpipe event. Kim, who is still only 25 despite winning golds at the two previous Winter Olympics, said “muscle memory” had kicked in as she began her quest. “I’ve been doing this for 22 years, OK? Muscle memory is a thing. I might be better at snowboarding than I am at walking,” she said. Kim was almost ruled out of the Olympics last month by a dislocated shoulder but said it had not bothered her during her qualifying performance.
A thrilling battle for ice dancing gold takes place on Wednesday night as French figure skaters Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry prepare to defend a slender lead in the Milano Ice Skating Arena. Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry lead US world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates by just 0.46 points going into the free dance finale. The 31-year-old Cizeron won gold in Beijing four years ago with Gabriella Papadakis and is looking to cap an incredible exploit after competing for just a year with 33-year-old Fournier Beaudry, a Canadian who became a French citizen last November. Their Olympic campaign has been complicated by the fallout of a book written by Cizeron’s former partner Papadakis, while Fournier Beaudry’s ex-boyfriend and skating partner was implicated in a sexual abuse case in Canada.
The International Olympic Committee said it will try to convince Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych to not wear a banned helmet that depicts victims of the war with Russia during Thursday’s heats, after he wore it during training. Heraskevych has already said he has no intention of backing down even though he risks being disqualified, as gestures of a political nature during competition are forbidden under the Olympic charter. Athletes are permitted to express their views in press conferences and on social media, and on Tuesday the IOC said it would “make an exception” for Heraskevych, allowing him to wear a plain black armband during competition. “We want him to compete. We really, really want him to have his moment. That’s very, very important,” said IOC spokesperson Mark Adams.
Meanwhile, in a story that has tongues wagging, the ex-girlfriend of a Norwegian biathlete who won a bronze medal and then confessed on live television to an affair says it is “hard to forgive.” Asked by Norway’s NRK on Tuesday to share his feelings after his bronze in the 20km individual, a teary Sturla Holm Laegreid broke down and admitted he had cheated on his girlfriend. On Wednesday, the woman in question, whose name has not been disclosed, said in a message to the Verdens Gang (VG) newspaper: “It’s hard to forgive. Even after a declaration of love in front of the whole world.”
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