Ski World Championships 2025: Franjo von Allmen wins the downhill

In overcast weather, the supreme discipline of the Alpine Ski World Championships, the men's downhill, took place today. Nobody was expecting a big surprise like yesterday's women's downhill, the circle of favorites was already set, especially after the Super G. Alexis Monney, Franjo von Allmen, Marco Odermatt, and on a good day perhaps Kitzbühel winner James Crawford, Adrian Sejersted or Dominik Paris were candidates for gold. $The Italian Mattia Casse opened the race; his run was decent but not exceptional. With starting number 2, Stefan Rogentin quickly took the lead. With number 6 came the Frenchman Nils Allegre, who took 0.04 seconds off Rogentin at the finish and took the lead. James Crawford, who then entered the race, disappointed across the board with an uncertain run and had to settle for 23rd place. Not a great World Championship for him. The Swiss Alexis Monney started with the number 8, who shone in Kitzbühel with a 2nd place and won the downhill race in Bormio. And now a different class seemed to have entered the race, because Monney distanced Casse from intermediate time to intermediate time until he took the lead at the finish with an impressive lead of 1.10 seconds. The Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr followed. The likeable Austrian was not really convincing during the World Cup season, so expectations were rather low. But lo and behold, the World Championships in his own country seemed to awaken spirits, because Kriechmayr was able to keep up with the fast Monney and here and there ensure a green flashing intermediate time. Every curve and every swing could decide between victory and defeat. At the finish the time flashed green, with Kriechmayr in the lead with a lead of just 0.07 seconds. Next came Franjo von Allmen, who was one of the top favorites in the World Cup thanks to three second places in downhill races. However, he hadn't done anything great in the Super G, so how would the downhill go? Von Allmen showed a courageous run and sometimes tried to use brute force to grab the gold medal, and the recipe seemed to work. He held on to his lead until the last intermediate time and also ensured a largely error-free run in the last corners before the final jump: Lohne took the lead with a lead of 0.24 seconds. Then came former world champion Dominik Paris, who also didn't get going in the World Cup this season. But the World Cup seems to be inspiring him. He was behind at the finish, which he acknowledged by punching the barrier, but in the end he surprisingly finished in 4th place. Now everyone was trembling down at the finish, because season dominator Marco Odermatt, who had already won the Super G World Cup two days ago, was entering the race. At first everything looked completely normal, he was faster, but in the middle section he surprisingly lost time that he was unable to make up by the finish. In the end, Odermatt had to settle for fifth place. The last candidate for gold was Slovenian Miha Hrobat, but his ski was torn away in one section and he was only able to avoid a fall with great luck, which also meant he was out of the race. This secured his place on the podium, and none of the following riders could change that. For Vincent Kriechmayr and Austria in particular, the silver medal at the home World Championships will be a real consolation and a real stroke of luck.