Today, February 7, on the first day of the 2026 Winter Olympics, Swiss skier Franjo von Allmen won the first gold medal of the Olympics, becoming the champion in the downhill competition. He completed the distance in 1 minute 51.61 seconds.
The silver medal was won by Italian Giovanni Franzoni, finishing 0.20 seconds behind the winner. The bronze went to another Italian, Dominik Paris, who was 0.50 seconds behind.
For 24-year-old von Allmen, this is his first Olympic gold in his career. In 2025, the Swiss athlete became a two-time world champion.
A total of 36 athletes participated in the downhill competition, including Latvian skier Elvis Opmanis. In his debut Olympics, the 28-year-old athlete finished in 32nd place, losing to the winner by more than seven seconds. In the final standings, he outpaced two participants, while another two failed to finish.
The best result among Latvian athletes on the first day of the Games was shown by skier Patricia Eiduka (in the photo). She competed in the 20-kilometer skiathlon, which is being held for the first time at this Olympics at a distance of 20 km (10 km classical style and 10 km freestyle) instead of the previous 15 km.
Eiduka stayed within the top thirty throughout the race and finished 23rd among 70 participants, achieving the same time as American Julia Kern - 58 minutes 2.4 seconds. The victory in the skiathlon was claimed by Swedish athlete Frida Karlsson. Silver was won by Ebba Andersson from Sweden, and bronze went to Norwegian Heidi Weng.
As noted by LETA, after finishing, Eiduka told Latvian television that her key difficulties arose during the classical part of the distance.
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