Italy seized centre stage in the men’s downhill at Bormio. In the race that opened the alpine skiing programme at Milano Cortina 2026, Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris secured silver and bronze respectively, delivering the first two medals of this Winter Olympic Games for the Italia Team. Also present at the Stelvio Ski Centre was Luciano Buonfiglio, who watched live as Italy collected its first Olympic medals since his election as President of CONI.

“It’s a tremendous emotion to begin with two medals and to embrace Giovanni and Dominik. This is the reward for their hard work. The tension was such that I couldn’t even watch the race: I only lifted my head after the finish, when I heard the roar. My congratulations go to FISI President Flavio Roda,” Buonfiglio said.

For the debutant from Manerba del Garda—who triumphed in late January on the Streif in the iconic Kitzbühel downhill—and for the 36-year-old South Tyrolean, who on the legendary Stelvio has already written memorable chapters with seven World Cup victories (six in downhill and one in super-G), this was their first career podium at an Olympic Games. But the entire national team celebrated, returning to the top three in the discipline (photo Luca Pagliaricci/CONI) at an Olympics for the first time in 12 years, since Christof Innerhofer’s silver at Sochi 2014. Thanks to these two podiums, Italy—counting also Summer Games—has broken the 800-medal barrier (the total stood at 799 before today’s race).

The winner in the Valtellina resort was Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen, who took gold in 1:51.61. The two Italians finished +0.20 and +0.50 back respectively, with Paris pushing another Swiss star, Marco Odermatt, off the podium; he had to settle for fourth at +0.70. Also notable for Italy were Mattia Casse in 11th (+1.67) and Florian Schieder in 17th (+1.96). (agc)