The FIS World Ski Championships downhill event on Saturday yielded disappointment for Whistler's alpine speedsters, as none could do better than Jack Crawford in 23rd place.
Instead it was Franjo von Allmen realizing triumph in Saalbach, Austria (1:40.68), narrowly outperforming home-snow favourite Vincent Kriechmayr in second (1:40.92). Alexis Monney joined his fellow Swiss skier von Allmen on the podium with a third-place result (1:40.99).
Other Canadians in the field were Brodie Seger (27th), Jeffrey Read (29th) and Riley Seger (DNF).
Earlier this month, Read finished 10th at the World Championships in super-G.
von Allmen's difficult road to glory should be noted. His father died suddenly when he was a teenager, forcing the now-23-year-old to launch a crowdfunding campaign to salvage his career. Thirteen months ago, he had a best-ever World Cup finish of ninth.
All of that is in the past now.
"One day it’s [Marco] Odermatt, one day it’s another athlete and with Monney on the podium today it’s pretty amazing and I think it’s going to be a big party tonight,” von Allmen told the media after the race. "Yeah [I’ll] enjoy the moment and we will see what happens next year or for the upcoming races. Yeah, of course, I didn't expect it at all, but at the end, it worked out really well and really happy with it.”
Click here for additional results from Saalbach.
