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It was a red and white podium today at Saalbach-Hinterglemm, with six Swiss skiers standing on the steps of the Alpine Team Combined event. Switzerland’s Team 1, with Franjo von Allmen and Loic Meillard, took the victory just 0.28 seconds ahead of teammates Alexis Monney and Tanguy Nef of Team 2. Rounding out the all-Swiss podium was Switzerland’s Team 4, with Stefan Rogentin and Marc Rochat in third place. Team USA 1 with Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Benjamin Ritchie narrowly missed out on the podium by 0.26 seconds. America’s Team 2, with Bryce Bennett and Jett Seymour, finished 15th overall.
Downhill
A total of 37 teams were at the start today, February 12, for the men’s Alpine Team Combined event. The new team event starts with a Downhill run completed by one skier, followed by a Slalom run by another skier from the same country. Switzerland’s Alexis Monney, who had claimed his first-ever career World Cup victory this season, catapulted himself into the lead with a time of 1:42.09 minutes, 0.02 seconds ahead of teammate Franjo von Allmen. Third place after the Downhill run went to Italy’s Team 1, with Dominik Paris finishing 0.46 seconds behind Monney.
USA’s Team 1 sat in 12th place after Ryan Cochran-Siegle’s run that saw him cross the finish 1.26 seconds behind Switzerland’s Team 1. Meanwhile, USA’s Team 2 which saw Bryce Bennett compete in the Downhill, sat in 24th place.
Slalom
After one DNF by Team 2 of Czechia, the field was down to 36 skiers. The Slalom is run in reverse order to the Downhill finish times for the top 30, with the fastest Team going last, creating a lot of pressure. After the fastest skier competed, the teams ranked 31 to 36 also get to race, unlike Slalom World Cup races, where only the top 30 qualify. With a total of 72 Slalom gates, the tech skiers certainly had their work cut out for them.
It was an exciting second half that saw Sweden’s only team shoot into the lead after Christopher Jacobsen’s fantastic run with a time of 57.79 seconds. It was the fastest Slalom run of the day and enough to move the team from 27th after the Downhill into what was 11th overall.
USA’s Jett Seymour was the seventh skier out of the gate and delivered a strong run, that moved USA’s Team 2 from 24th to 15th place. Meanwhile, Canada’s Erik Read did his best to boost Team Canada’s ranking from 23rd to overall 17th. The Austrian teams, however, were not having a great day on homesoil, with three of the four Combined Teams ending their bid for glory with a DNF after straddling or missing gates.
Another standout performance was delivered by Germany’s Linus Strasser, whose team sat in 18th place after Jocher’s Downhill run. The seasoned tech specialist managed to snatch the lead from Sweden with a 0.63-second lead after putting down the second-fastest run of the day. Germany sat in the leader’s seat until it was Ben Ritchie’s turn from USA’s Team 2. Ritchie had a 0.80-second lead on Team Germany from their teammate Cochran-Siegle’s Downhill run, and Ritchie did his best to hang on to the lead despite the deteriorating course. The lead shrank to 0.31 seconds midway down the course, but Ritchie managed to pick up speed into the finish, crossing the line 0.51 seconds ahead of Team Germany.
Cochran-Siegle and Bennett got to enjoy their time in the leader’s seat in the finish area for another three skiers until they were unseated by Switzerland’s Team 4. Switzerland’s Team 4 was eighth last to compete and while this meant that seven teams were left to race and the odds for a podium slim, Marc Rochat put down such a fantastic run—the third fastest of the day—that he skied his team onto the podium. None of the three Italian teams could beat Switzerland Team 4’s time.
- Related: Bryce Bennett Claims Third-Ever Career Podium at FIS World Cup in Val Gardena/Gröden. Italy
Now it was time for Switzerland’s Team 4 to enjoy the leader’s seat and watch with anticipation as skier after skier failed to unseat them. Italy’s Team 1’s bid for glory, who had the third fastest Downhill time after Dominik Paris’ fantastic run, ended with a gut-punch when Alex Vinatzer straddled a gate, ending his run with a dreaded DNF. Then it was time for their teammate in Team 1, and Loic Meillard used the more than 1-second lead from his Downhill partner Franjo von Allmend to keep his nerves calm and bring the victory home, hanging on to a 0.43-second lead across the finish line despite the rutted course. Last to go out of the top 30 was Switzerland’s Team 2’s Tanguy Nef. The 28-year-old tech specialist did his best to unseat Team 1 but fell 0.27 seconds short. Nevertheless, it was a huge triumph for Switzerland, with three out of four teams on the podium. It continues Switzerland’s strong streak at the World Championships after Marco Odermatt won the Super-G on February 7 and Franjo von Allmen won the Downhill on February 8.
The Team Combined has certainly proved to be an exciting event. Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami explained in an interview with SRF how refreshing it was for her to be part of a team and not just be focussed on herself, after team partner Wendy Holdener carried the team to the podium with a strong Slalom run. The Team Combined will also make its premier on the Olympic circuit next year at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina, Italy.
The World Championships at Saalbach, Austria, continue tomorrow, February 13, with the women’s Giant Slalom.
