'So many emotions': von Allmen wins Wengen Super G for first World Cup victory

As the latest rising star to join the World Cup winner's list this season, Franjo von Allmen (SUI/Head) picked a pretty good place to do it.

The 23-year-old became the seventh first-time winner on the men's World Cup tour this season, including the fourth from Switzerland, by conquering the Super G version of the Lauberhorn on home snow in Wengen on Friday.

Von Allmen backed up his two Downhill podiums from earlier in the season by mastering the famous course, finishing in 1:47.65, ahead of Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT/Head, +0.10s) and Stefan Rogentin (SUI/Fischer, +0.58s).

Pre-race favourite Marco Odermatt (SUI/Stöckli) was never in contention and finished seventh, over a second behind his young teammate, who could barely register his achievement of a debut win at home.

"There are so many emotions, I just try to be in the moment," von Allmen said. "Especially as a Swiss guy, it's really something special."

Skiing with bib No.3 and enjoying the best snow conditions under bright sunshine and blue skies in the stunning Jungfrau region of the Bernese Oberland, von Allmen was nearly flawless.

He began with a controlled jump off the Hundschopf, was clean coming into the Kernan-S and used a tactical shimmy to come out of it with good speed going under the railway tunnel.

The young star continued to make time during the technical middle section, and while he tired towards end of the race, he still set a time that only Kriechmayr seriously challenged.

"I think it was a solid run," said von Allmen, admitting that it was "not at all" perfect. "For once I did not many mistakes, and had some fast skiing."

As the snow softened and slowed during the race, Kriechmayr took advantage of being the first of the top seeds with bib No.6 to give von Allmen his biggest scare and record his first Super G podium in Wengen.

The Austrian veteran started well, only to lose time with a drift coming out of the Kernan-S to fall well behind von Allmen's pace.

But the 33-year-old used his experience and strength to power to the finish line, making up over a third of a second in the last two intermediate splits to just miss the lead.

"Second place is a great result, my skiing was nearly perfect," the 2021 double world champion said. "One tenth I could find easy, but I think Franjo could also find some time."

Finding time was not so easy as the race went on, however, with no one else coming within half a second of von Allmen.

His teammate Rogentin, battered and bruised after a Downhill training crash on Tuesday, got up off the canvas to ski courageously and record his third career World Cup podium.

Despite his own hesitations leaving the start gate, he started brilliantly with bib No.11 to record the fastest first split of the field, nearly two-tenths of a second ahead of von Allmen.

Though he gave up some time coming out of the Kernan-S, Rogentin was still well in touch until a couple of difficult moments on the technical section put von Allmen and Kriechmayr out of reach.

The 30-year-old powered through the pain barrier, though, to finish in third, 0.04 seconds ahead of fourth-placed James Crawford (CAN/Head), the first skier out of the gate on Friday.

"It wasn't easy, some mental stuff at the start," Rogentin admitted, with thoughts of his training crash still fresh in his mind. "But then after the second gate, I was in the race mind and I forgot the rest.

"After the middle I was a bit sore - I hoped it would be later, but in the middle I was sore. But I tried to push and it worked."

It didn't work for Odermatt, however, who was never in contention and missed the podium for the first time in his four Super G races in Wengen.

The Overall World Cup leader was bumped around coming into the Kernan-S and almost hit the padding on a high exit on his way out, then was surprisingly unclean on the technical turns.

He lost time throughout and finished over a second behind von Allmen, who now finds himself well positioned to claim the weekend's big prize on Saturday.

With his first World Cup win under his belt, and a shorter version of the Lauberhorn conquered, von Allmen could be excused for thinking the full-length Downhill race might be a little easier now.

"Easier? I don't think so," von Allmen cautioned. "I try to put emotions down and focus again for tomorrow."

The 95th edition of the famous Lauberhorn Downhill race in Wengen begins at 12:30pm Central European Time on Saturday. Don't miss it!