The China Mail - History-maker Von Allmen wins third Olympic gold

Von Allmen booked himself a place in the pantheon of Olympic alpine skiing greats, with Austrian Toni Sailer and France's Jean-Claude Killy the only other racers to have won a hat-trick of golds.

Sailer won the downhill, giant slalom and slalom races at the 1956 Cortina Olympics, a feat mirrored by Killy at the 1968 Grenoble Games. Only Croatia's Janica Kostelic has achieved the feat in women's skiing, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Switzerland's Von Allmen, who won the downhill on Saturday, partnered Tanguy Nef to victory in Monday's team combined.

Wearing bib number seven for the super-G, the 24-year-old hit speeds of 120km/h (75mph) to dominate the race down the Stelvio course, clocking a winning time of 1min 25.32sec.

American Ryan Cochran-Siegle followed up on his silver medal from Beijing Games four years ago with another second spot, 0.13sec off Von Allmen's pace.

Defending world champion Marco Odermatt rounded out the podium (+0.28).

But Swiss racer Odermatt, a four-time World Cup overall winner who is the runaway leader this season, was left crestfallen as a quick glance at the big screen saw him realise he'd missed out on another gold.

Von Allmen, however, was a picture of celebration after his storming run, the large number of baying Swiss fans in the packed tribune wildly applauding their hero, flags waved, cowbells heaved and air horns blown.

He had already made history for Switzerland by becoming the first Swiss male skier to win two Olympic golds in the history of the Winter Games.

After seeing he'd put himself in pole for a third, he took both skis off, raised them in the air to acknowledge the public acclaim, before making a small bow, to more raucous applause.

Odermatt was later pictured embracing his teammate, Switzerland now having won five of the nine medals on offer in the men's alpine skiing programme, with just the giant slalom and slalom to come.

France's Nils Allegre finished fourth in the super-G, ahead of Austria's Raphael Haaser, the current world giant slalom champion who claimed a surprise silver in the super-G in Saalbach last year.

Then came in-form Italian Giovanni Franzoni, who won downhill silver here, but who lost valuable time in the mid-section where Von Allmen shone.

Franzoni's veteran teammate Dominik Paris, who claimed bronze in the downhill, slid out of contention after losing his right ski.

Z.Ma--ThChM