ITALY: Azzurri screaming in the Olympic downhill in Bormio: Franzoni wins silver, bronze for Paris

Italy immediately takes the stage in the men's downhill in Bormio. In the race that inaugurated the alpine skiing program in Milan Cortina 2026, in fact, Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris secured silver and bronze respectively, giving the Italia Team the first two medals in this winter edition of the Olympic Games. Also present at the

Stelvio Ski Centre was Luciano Buonfiglio, who attended the first two Olympic medals live since he was elected President of CONI. "It is a great emotion to start with two medals and hug Giovanni and Dominik. This is the reward for their commitment. The tension was such that I couldn't even see the race: I only raised my head after the finish line, when I heard the scream. My congratulations go to FISI President Flavio Roda," commented Buonfiglio.

For the rookie from Manerba del Garda, who triumphed at the end of January on the Streif in the iconic free ascent of Kitzbühel, and the thirty-six-year-old South Tyrolean, who on the snow of the legendary Stelvio has already had the opportunity in the past to write memorable pages of history thanks to seven victories (six in downhill and one in super-G) on the World Cup circuit, This is the first podium of his career in a five-ring event. But the entire national team is celebrating, returning to the top-3 of the specialty (photo Luca Pagliaricci / CONI) at an Olympics 12 years after the silver won by Christof Innerhofer in Sochi 2014. Thanks to these two podiums, moreover, Italy (also counting the editions of the Summer Games) broke through the wall of 800 medals (before today's race the total amounted to 799).

Raising his arms to the sky in the Valtellina resort was the Swiss Franjo Von Allmen (gold), who crossed the finish line with a time of 1:51.61. The two Italians paid a gap of +0.20 and +0.50 respectively, with Paris managing to oust another Swiss champion of the caliber of Marco Odermatt from the podium, who had to settle for fourth place with a delay of +0.70. For Italy, Mattia Casse's 11th place (+1.67) should also be noted, while Florian Schieder was 17th (+1.96). (AGC)

THE MEDAL TABLE OF THE ITALIA TEAM