Alpine Skiing-Odermatt gets fresh shot at gold in combined event

BORMIO, Italy, Feb 8 - Alpine skiing great Marco Odermatt, left empty‑handed in the Olympic downhill, has another chance to chase gold after he was paired with reigning slalom world champion Loïc Meillard for Monday's team combined race, according to the Swiss national skiing federation.

A bitterly disappointed Odermatt, who has dominated Alpine skiing for half a decade, came fourth in Saturday's downhill, the opening Alpine skiing race at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games. 

Younger compatriot Franjo von Allmen, who claimed gold, will pair with slalom specialist Tanguy Nef, giving the deep Swiss squad more than one chance to reach Olympic glory in the combined event.         

"Sometimes you need little defeats to enjoy the success even more again. We go again tomorrow," read a post on Odermatt's Instagram profile on Sunday. 

Switzerland listed Alexis Monney with Daniel Yule, and Stefan Rogentin with Matthias Iten for its two remaining pairs.

Italy, which claimed silver and bronze on Saturday, also plans to list the maximum four teams for each individual nation, an Italian ski federation spokesman said. Italy has impressed at recent speed events, but it does not however enjoy the same strength in slalom as Switzerland or France.

COMBINED OFFERS TASTE OF TEAM SPIRIT

Once a staple of the Olympic programme, the combined race was in its original format an individual event meant to crown the all-rounder who could master the raw velocity of downhill and the technical precision of slalom.

However, the format making its Olympic debut on Monday requires participating nations to field same-gender teams of two athletes, one racing a downhill and the other a slalom, allowing skiers a rare taste of team spirit. 

"It’s a different kind of