BORMIO, Italy (AP) — The Swiss are breaking up their gold-medal ski combination from worlds as the team event makes its Olympic debut on Monday at the Milan Cortina Games.

Four-time overall World Cup champion Marco Odermatt will unite with technical specialist Loic Meillard in an event where one racer competes in a downhill run and another in a slalom. Their two times are added up to determine the final results. It's one of several new events at these Olympics.

At the world championships last February, Franjo von Allmen, the Olympic downhill winner on Saturday, was paired with Meillard to take first place as part of a Swiss podium sweep. This time, von Allmen will be with Tanguy Nef. The other teams representing Switzerland feature Alexis Monney with Daniel Yule, and Stefan Rogentin with Matthias Iten.

Odermatt skipped the team combined at worlds. He's in search of his first medal at the Milan Cortina Games after taking fourth in the downhill. He won gold in the giant slalom at the 2022 Beijing Games.

Italy has a strong contingent, too. Giovanni Franzoni, the silver medalist in the downhill, will join with Alex Vinatzer, while bronze medalist Dominik Paris is with Tommaso Sala.

The Americans have one team: Kyle Negomir and River Radamus.

The women will compete in the team event Tuesday. It's almost certain that downhill winner Breezy Johnson will be paired with Mikaela Shiffrin. The duo won the event at the world championship. They finished ahead of the Swiss combination of Wendy Holdener and Lara Gut-Behrami, who's out with a knee injury.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — American ski racer Breezy Johnson won the Olympic downhill Sunday with a hard-charging run on a day marred by teammate Lindsey Vonn’s crash that saw her being taken off the mountain in a helicopter.

Johnson was the sixth runner and found speed with a risk-taking trip along the iconic Olympia delle Tofana course on a sunny day in Cortina. She was in the leader’s box when Vonn, the No. 13 racer, cut a corner too close and was spun around before crashing. The race was put on hold for more than 20 minutes.

The 30-year-old Johnson joins Vonn as the only American women to win the Olympic downhill. Johnson finished in 1 minute, 36.10 seconds to hold off Emma Aicher of Germany by just .04 seconds. Italy’s Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic downhill winner and 2022 silver medalist, finished with the bronze.

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Graham contributed from Bormio, Italy.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Swiss racer Franjo von Allmen leads the Olympic downhill Saturday after the opening 15 racers and is on the brink of winning the first gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games.

The only thing that can thwart von Allmen from his first Olympic medal is a surprise finish from one of the remaining lower-ranked ski racers still to take the Stelvio course. There are 36 racers scheduled to compete on a picture-perfect day in Bormio.

Von Allmen powered through the challenging course in 1 minute, 51.61 seconds. His time was good enough to withstand the charge of Italy's Giovanni Franzoni, who is in silver-medal position. Franzoni's teammate, Dominik Paris, had a fast run to take over third and knock Marco Odermatt of Switzerland off the podium.

Von Allmen is looking to keep the Olympic downhill title in the Swiss family. Beat Feuz won the event at 2022 Beijing Games before retiring.

The 24-year-old von Allmen sometimes flies under the radar of Odermatt, who’s won four straight overall World Cup titles. They’re fast friends and rivals. They share course information but hold a little back, too.

The stands were packed with flag-waving fans.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing and AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics