He managed the perfect run in the team combined, now Tanguy Nef wants to do the same in the slalom on Monday. The man from Geneva talks about the most emotional days of his career.
16.02.2026, 05:00
16.02.2026, 07:16
SDA
The celebrations at the House of Switzerland in Bormio have been exuberant over the past few days. Especially on Monday, when four Swiss alpine athletes presented their medals after the team combined. They were all cheered, but one name was chanted particularly often. And for once it wasn't Franjo von Allmen, Marco Odermatt or Loïc Meillard. No, the fans were chanting: "Tanguy, Tanguy, Tanguy."
The slalom skier from Veyrier had shone with a dream run. For a long time, Nef himself could hardly realize what he had achieved. "Even when I was standing on the podium with Marco, Franjo and Loïc, I almost had a bit of imposter syndrome," he recalls. This describes the feeling of not having earned success and being exposed as a "cheat". "I was standing there with the three stars, I'm a bit of a fan of them myself, and then suddenly I heard my name."
A surreal moment for the 29-year-old, who had never stood on the podium in the World Cup and had mostly remained in the shadow of his successful teammates. Even days later, he sometimes takes out the medal to reassure himself: "Okay, it's still there, so that was real."
The college skier
You can see how much this success means to Nef three days later at the media briefing in the team hotel. "I stood at the start and thought: this is my first Olympic Games." Then his voice breaks and, slightly shaky, he continues: "I've been working towards this my whole life. And I knew it was now or never."
To understand where these emotions come from, it's worth taking a look at Nef's rather unconventional path to top-class sport. When he suffered a fractured tibia and fibula at the age of 16, he realized how quickly a dream can be shattered. Betting everything on sport suddenly seemed risky to him. After graduating from high school, he therefore applied to an American university in the hope of being able to better combine his studies with top-class sport.
After passing the entrance exam, he studied computer science and economics at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and also competed in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) races. The initial plan is one semester, but it will take three years to complete his bachelor's degree. In the Ski World Cup, this path is sometimes ridiculed or described as hopeless. "Winning gold was also special for that reason," says Nef. "It legitimized my decisions."
Nef is one of 240 athletes with NCAA experience at these Winter Games. There are eleven from Switzerland, and he is the only skier. The other ten are ice hockey players. After his Olympic victory, he received well over 200 messages from former coaches, friends and acquaintances from the USA, says the Frenchman. "The Olympic Games have even more significance there than here."
Late breakthrough
However, Nef had to wait a long time for recognition. Although he made a strong debut in the World Cup with 11th place in Levi, the consistency he had hoped for did not materialize at first. This was followed by a difficult phase in which he often dropped out. In the meantime, he struggled to keep up with the top in the second-class European Cup.
It was not until he was 28 that he made his real breakthrough. The previous winter, he regularly scored points in the World Cup and also celebrated his first major success in Saalbach: he was the first skier from Geneva to win a World Championship medal, taking silver in the team combined (with Alexis Monney). He was later duly celebrated in his home community, even though he now lives in Valais.
Now he has added Olympic gold to his World Championship silver. Nef, who is still waiting for his first podium in the World Cup, seems to be a man for big events. "A dream has come true for me, I'm still walking on air a bit," he says. "At the same time, I mustn't forget that my big goal was a medal in the special slalom."
The competition is particularly tight in this discipline. Slalom is considered the most open World Cup discipline, with seven different winners in nine races this season. Nef is also behind Meillard within the team, who became world champion last year and has finished on the podium three times this winter. However, Monday's coup has given him additional courage. "I'm in shape and know that I can ski very well on this slope." This confidence can make all the difference.
