Franjo von Allmen is crowned downhill world champion in Saalbach. In an interview with Keystone-SDA, the 23-year-old talks about disappointments, pressure and what Marco Odermatt has to do with his coup.
09.02.2025, 17:18
10.02.2025, 09:58
SDA
It's now world champion Franjo von Allmen. How does that sound?
"Incredibly cool, but also strange. It's a bit much going on here at the moment. I can't really put it all together yet."
You said beforehand that the World Championship downhill was a race like any other. Did you really perceive it that way?
"In the super-G, I let the whole thing get a bit too close to me. I was aware of all the pressure, even if I didn't want to admit it to myself."
It's all the more impressive that you were able to give such an answer two days after this disappointment. The pressure wasn't any less...
"No, definitely not. But I told myself that I had nothing to lose, that it was my first World Championships. I just wanted to have fun and show my best skiing. I managed that quite well."
It was a ride on the last groove...
"It was already at the limit, I really threw everything into it. In the super-G, I was annoyed that I always 'smeared in' a little. That costs a brutal amount of time on this snow. Today I tried to ski everything on the move. It didn't feel too good during the ride. But it's often the case that it's fast when it feels 'shitty'. Being fast and having fun are two different things. But cool, it worked out that way."
Did you notice what happened in front of you at the start?
"I actually looked at Alexis Monney, who was three numbers ahead of me, and saw that he had crossed the finish line with a one-second lead. I had a 'shit load of joy' for him. At the same time, it gave me the certainty that the track would hold. I had a bit of a queasy feeling at the start number draw the evening before."
Your roommate Monney is another young Swiss on the podium who also had to cope with a disappointment in the Super-G. What was the mood like in your "flat share" on Friday evening?
"Not incredibly good. But we still had a world champion in our team in Marco Odermatt and we tried to soak up all his energy. That was worth a lot for today."
