"Switzerland 2" ahead of "Switzerland 1": Franjo von Allmen and Tanguy Nef ensure the next Swiss gold medal in the team combination. It's a huge satisfaction, especially for the man from Geneva.
09.02.2026, 18:16
09.02.2026, 23:12
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- Tanguy Nef wins Olympic gold in the team combined together with Franjo von Allmen after Nef leads the team from 4th place to the top with the fastest time.
- For the 29-year-old from Geneva, the title is particularly satisfying after years of setbacks, a difficult phase in the World Cup and missing out on major events.
- Von Allmen pays tribute to Nef's decisive performance and emphasizes that his strong run laid the foundation for the Swiss double victory.
When Tanguy Nef learns that he will be competing in the team combination with Franjo von Allmen, it doesn't take long for him to come up with a team name: "All or Nefing". The combination of the two surnames, or parts of them, is also the goal for the race.
And it is Nef who shows the next day that he has really internalized the motto "All or nothing". With the best run time, he ensures that the team jumps from 4th to 1st place - and also clearly leaves the supposed dream duo of Marco Odermatt/Loïc Meillard behind.
"We had a clear plan and then just had to implement it," says Nef, who had just won Olympic gold. Hardly anyone knows as well as he does that this is often easier said than done. But on this day, it suddenly came "quite naturally" to him. "The fact that I was able to form a duo with the Olympic downhill champion was an inspiration for me," says Nef. "I just wanted to do my best. Now that I'm finally taking part in the Olympic Games."
Nef has a long way to go
Yes, the careers of Nef and von Allmen can hardly be compared. On the one hand, there is the 24-year-old from the Bernese Oberland, who hit the ground running in the World Cup and is already one of the best speed skiers. On the other hand, there is the 29-year-old from Geneva, who hinted at his potential early on but then almost completely disappeared from the scene.
In 2019, he will take part in his first World Championships, after which it will be six years before Nef is allowed to compete in his second. The 2022/23 season in particular was pitch black for him: in nine slaloms, he only achieved one countable result. He was eliminated six times and missed out on qualifying for the second run twice. After changing his equipment, he gradually fought his way back and has been consistently finishing in the points since last season.
This winter, Nef has six top 10 finishes to his name - so his success has not come out of nowhere. But he has never made it onto the podium. Nef obviously needs the big event for this: after World Championship silver last year, then with Alexis Monney in the team combined, now comes Olympic gold. He is still searching for the right words, Nef says again and again during the marathon interview after the victory. "I dreamed of being here once. But I also knew it was possible."
Von Allmen is impressed
Standing next to Nef is Franjo von Allmen, the newly crowned double Olympic champion. He could become the big man of these Games, with Wednesday's super-G another race on the program in which he is once again one of the favourites. But at this moment he knows exactly: "Tanguy put in an incredible performance today."
After his downhill, von Allmen was not really satisfied. "I think it's time for a break," he had said. Especially in the lower section, where he actually lost a few hundredths to the competition, he had felt his legs. "I was surprised that the gap at the finish wasn't that big after all. Now I hope that Tanguy can iron out my mistakes."
And Nef did just that with a run that he had hardly ever shown before. True to the team motto, the man from western Switzerland got everything out of himself and can now call himself Olympic champion after years of ups and downs.
