Summary of the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
USAT’s Jordan Mendoza and Sydney Henderson report from outside the opening ceremony in Milan, telling you about the best moments and what you might have missed.
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BORMIO, Italy – Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen diminished the cheers of his country, but could not completely silence them. Von Allmen’s gold medal was followed by two Italian skiers winning medals on Saturday in the men’s downhill at the Stelvio Ski Center, the first medal event of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni and Dominic Paris finished in the top three with back-to-back runs in front of cheering Italian fans. However, neither could overtake von Allmen’s time of 1:51.61.
“I’m very happy. It feels like I’m watching a movie,” von Allmen said on NBC shortly before clinching victory. He also said that today he is thinking a lot about his father, who died when von Allmen was 17 years old. Team USA’s hopeful Ryan Cochran Seagle struggled to record a time of 1:53.65, finishing 18th, far behind the top competitors. Kyle Negomil (1:53.20) had the best time of the four participating Americans and finished in the top 10.
Two other American skiers, Bryce Bennett (1:53.45) and Sam Morse (1:53.68), placed 13th and 19th, respectively.
36 skiers each got one crack at the downhill course. See the full list of results for men’s downhill medal events.
