An athlete who had to make an online collection to stay in his sport, the Swiss Franjo von Allmen, won the first gold medal of the Winter Olympic Games, surprising the great favorite, his compatriot Marco Odermatt, in the ski downhill test. Host Italy also debuted its golden box, thanks to the great-niece of a movie star. But for the organizers it is not all glamour, with health and safety challenges the order of the day.

First modification: 02/08/2026 - 02:23

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When his father died, Franjo von Allmen was only 17 years old and had no means to continue his skiing career. So he turned to an online fundraiser to continue supporting his Olympic dreams. Seven years later, the Swiss is the first gold medalist of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games.

Von Allmen clocked 1:51.56 minutes in the 3.2 km of the descent, but he was eighth of 36 competitors in action, and he had to wait a long time to find out where that record placed him.

Finally, the 24-year-old carpenter knew that he had surpassed the two Italians who finally accompanied him on the podium, Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris, while the great favorite to win, the Swiss Marco Odermatt, one of the most successful athletes in history, was left off the podium.

Franzoni and Paris's medals, added to Francesca Lollobrigida's gold in speed skating, have allowed the host country to spend the first night of the Games at the top of the medal table, tied with Japan and Norway.

Lollobrigida won the 3000 m, an event that athletes from the Netherlands had dominated in the last three editions of the Winter Games, and she did so on the day she celebrated her 35th birthday.

The occasion was conducive to remembering her great aunt, the diva of Italian cinema Gina Lollobrigida, who died three years ago, of whom Francesca said she "would have felt very proud", but also to celebrate with her little son Tommasso, the reason why she temporarily retired from the sport.

"Milano Cortina for me was showing people that you can be a mother and come back stronger. I won a world title, I won a gold medal after being a mother," she highlighted, after celebrating with her two-year-old child in her arms and wrapped in the Italian flag.

Surprises in skiing

The Norwegian crown came in the normal springboard ski jump (the long one debuts later in the Games), thanks to Anna Odine Stroem, who surprised the great favorite, the Slovenian Nika Prevc, dominator of the World Cup in 2025 and the great figure of the winter season this year. Third place went to Japan's Nozomi Maruyama.

The Japanese achieved the first two positions in the Big Air snowboard test, one of the most spectacular sports of the event, when Kira Kimura and Ryoma Kimata occupied, in that order, the top of the men's podium.

Also in snowboarding, but in the women's cross country event, the Games were left without a double bronze medalist, Canadian Meryeta O'Dine, who broke her ankle during a training session.

The other crown of the day was contested in the 20 km cross-country skiathlon, where the Swedes Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson shared the gold and silver, respectively, while the bronze went to the Norwegian Heidi Weng.

The American Jessie Diggins, leader of the World Cup and the most successful of her country in this discipline, finished in a distant eighth place, after suffering a fall in a sharp curve at the beginning of the test. Diggins plans to retire after these Games.

It was not the only setback of the day for the United States, because in the figure skating team event, the Americans had to battle to place themselves above Japan in the preliminaries, after Yuma Kagiyama beat the great favorite Ilia Malinin in the men's individual short program. The medals are defined this February 8.

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Medical services on alert

The so-called "winter vomiting virus" or norovirus has continued to affect some of the participating athletes, although the medical officials of the fair rule out that an outbreak is occurring.

Canada and Finland had to postpone the opening match of the women's tournament on February 5 after four players on the European team were diagnosed with norovirus, the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide, with symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting.

Now there is also a known case in the Swiss team, also a women's team, although this was diagnosed after the player involved participated in the Swiss 4-3 victory over the Czech Republic in a penalty shootout.

"We had some cases from Finland with symptoms, treated. A Swiss case with symptoms, treated in the most appropriate way by the medical team," Christophe Dubi, executive director of the Olympic Games, reported at a press conference. "Let's be very clear: there is no outbreak," he said.

The Finns were able to take the field this February 7, this time to suffer a crushing 5-0 defeat against the United States, in a match in which Hilary Knight equaled the record of Natalie Darwitz and Katie King as the highest scorers for their country in the Olympic Games, with 14 goals each.

US Vice President J.D. Vance was present at the match against the Finns, where he was seen alongside influencer and amateur boxer Jake Paul.

The protests do not stop

Demonstrations continued to be present in Milan, the main venue of the event, where some 10,000 people came out to protest the cost of housing and the environmental impact of the Games.

About 100 protesters broke away from the march and threw firecrackers, smoke bombs and bottles at the police, who used water cannons to disperse the group. Six people were arrested as a result of the riots.

"I'm here because these Olympic Games are unsustainable: economically, socially and environmentally," complained a man carrying a Communist Refoundation Party flag.

Another protester showed a sign with the phrase "centuries-old trees, survivors of two wars... sacrificed for 90 seconds of competition on a bobsled track that cost 124 million (euros)."

Milan was the scene of other protests the week before the Games, to reject the presence of agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), which had been announced as part of the security of the American delegation.

With Reuters and AP

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