The Simmental is a Swiss valley with postcard landscapes of rural and mountainous Switzerland, whose name refers to a purebred cow renowned for its meat and milk and whose hills saw the growth of the man who descended the fastest down the dreaded Stelvio slope, Saturday, late morning. Annihiling the dreams of Italian coronation at home of the rockets Giovanni Franzonni and Dominik Paris and ejecting the boss of the circuit, Marco Odermatt, to the foot of the podium.
In Bormio, the boss of the downhill is called Franjo von Allmen (24 years old), and like his compatriot Bernhard Russi in 1972, here he is holding both Olympic and world titles. “There is no surprise,” recognizes Maxence Muzaton. The last race before the Olympics in Crans-Montana, he was six tenths ahead of the second place. Franjo, like all uninhibited young people, balances without doing any calculations. We saw it in posi (speed search position) where everyone was standing. »
“He has fun when he takes risks”
Von Allmen, who gets in shape before his races by listening to a playlist of rock and hard techno, goes, goes, and goes, helped by his Golgoth physique. His passion for daring trajectories earned him the nickname “mad dog”. “He has an enormous commitment,” greets Frenchman Alban Elezi Cannaferina. You can tell he’s having fun when he takes risks. That’s what makes him tick. »
From the mixed zone to the press conference, the Swiss wore his very wide smile, accentuating the childish side of his face. “I feel like I’m in a dream, in a film,” he says. How can we imagine a better start to the Olympics than with a gold medal? It’s crazy, it’s hard to sum up in words. »
The young man is not the dream client for that. He expresses himself in his sport, or in his summer passions, motocross and downhill mountain biking. Nothing bling-bling for the kid from the Bernese Oberland, seen this summer in Switzerland at a very special competition: each competitor had to complete a slalom while operating a trench rammer, a construction machine used to compact the soil, before downing a glass of beer as quickly as possible.
Where his Swiss predecessor Beat Feuz, Olympic champion four years ago in China, had trained as a mason, taught him the trade of carpenter. “Something that I like to do, and that I can and want to do again later,” he explained a year ago to the Swiss media, Watson.
Franjo von Allmen could have made it his main activity, if he had not clung to his dream of becoming a skier. An ambition threatened by the financial difficulties encountered by his family following the death of his father when the new Olympic champion was only 17 years old. The dream was only made possible by the generosity of donors solicited during a crowdfunding operation.
“I don’t like talking about it. This has already been addressed publicly, and now it’s good to go. The media made big headlines, which made me worry,” he gets annoyed. FVA is not the star of the Swiss team, leaving this weight to Marco Odermatt, fourth on Saturday. “I’m not really envious of Marco in terms of all the requests he has. The less I have, the better,” summed up the skier this week.
He longs for the calm and countryside of his Bernese Oberland. A sign of his homesickness, he mimed the horns of the Simmental cow in the finish racket in view of his excellent time. Not the most glamorous celebration, but it was never Franjo von Allmen’s obsession.
Worth a look
