Victory for Swiss duo

Franzoni takes the lead, ÖSV faces tough battle for medals

Vincent Kriechmayr (left) and Manuel Feller (right) raced to the silver medal on Monday.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Precious metal for Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller! On Monday, the red-white-red duo finished second in the Olympic team combined event, tied with the two Swiss athletes Marco Odermatt and Loic Meillard. Gold went to their compatriots Franjo von Allmen and Tanguy Nef.

Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller won silver in the team combined on Monday, securing Austria's first alpine skiing medal at the Olympic Games in Italy. With a strong slalom run, Feller made up for Kriechmayr's large deficit after the downhill and catapulted the duo to second place, 0.99 seconds behind the Swiss duo Franjo von Allmen/Tanguy Nef, tied with their compatriots Marco Odermatt/Loic Meillard.

The result:

Raphael Haaser/Michael Matt finished just behind them in fourth place (+1.02), but their improvement in the slalom was not enough to secure a medal. Stefan Babinsky/Fabio Gstrein finished eighth (+1.41), while Daniel Hemetsberger/Marco Schwarz came eleventh (+1.86). For Feller, this was his second Olympic medal after silver in the team competition in 2018, while Kriechmayr earned this honor for the first time at the Games.

Long faces after the downhill
The Austrians seemed to have already left their success on the downhill course in Bormio behind them. The eventual silver medalists were 97/100 seconds off the podium in seventh place. Kriechmayr, sixth in the special downhill, struggled with the final three turns, which ultimately cost him a good second. "Bad is a nice way of putting it. It was crap," he said of the final section. "It's just not good enough. You have to get it right in the big races, and if you don't, this is what happens," said the Upper Austrian, annoyed.

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

The fact that he was ultimately able to put on a big grin ("I don't even know how that happened") was thanks to Feller, who has so far only been able to impress with his victory in Kitz in 2025/26. The Tyrolean clocked the second-best time behind Nef, overtaking several teams, including the Italians Giovanni Franzoni/Alex Vinatzer (7th overall), who were leading after the first run, and Alexis Monney/Daniel Yule (13th) from Switzerland, who were second at the halfway stage. What started as a duel between Switzerland and Italy ultimately became one between Austria and the Swiss.

"Thanks, Manu!"
"I knew I was in good shape," Feller told ORF afterwards. "After his (Kriechmayr's, note) run, it was no longer within reach, but on the other hand, I was no longer under pressure." Kriechmayr, who will compete in the super-G on Wednesday, considered himself lucky. "Thanks Manu, you were very lucky," emphasized the 34-year-old. Feller, who wants to celebrate in the special slalom exactly one week later, remained humble. "Half of the medal belongs to Vinc, we are a team."

Haaser/Matt missed out on the medals by a mere 3/100ths of a second, having already squandered a better starting position in the downhill. Like Feller, Matt also showed a spirited slalom performance, finishing almost simultaneously with his colleague. "A solid performance in the slalom, two or three tenths could have been gained at the top," Matt summed up. Fourth place "hurts," Haaser admitted.