Why doesn’t Franjo von Allmen do giant slalom?

The Swiss downhill skiers are making history this winter. Never before has a nation dominated the World Cup like this. Four runs have been completed. A Swiss won four times before a Swiss. Now comes Kitzbühel – and there is some evidence that it will continue like this.

The amazing thing about it: how young the team is. In a discipline in which many only reach their peak after 30. Marco Odermatt, the season’s two-time downhill winner, is 27. Alexis Monney, who won in Bormio, is 25. Another two years younger is Franjo von Allmen, who was second three times recently. And behind them, the next talent, Livio Hiltbrand (21), is slowly approaching. These are rosy prospects in the premier discipline.

What is striking is that, with the exception of Marco Odermatt, everyone is concentrating on the speed area. And that raises the question: Why don’t any of the young Swiss race in the giant slalom? With a view to the overall World Cup, that would definitely make sense. Of course: If things go as usual, the big crystal ball is currently reserved for Odermatt. And since the man from Nidwalden is only 27 years old, this era could easily last a few more years. But at some point it will begin, the time after Odermatt.

And from a Swiss perspective, it would be nice if others were available. And that’s where a third discipline would come in handy. The fact is: As long as there are athletes like Odermatt who impress in three racing formats, you would have to be very dominant in two disciplines to be able to keep up. Odermatt says: “That’s why the biggest challenge is to win the overall World Cup. Because you have to beat the specialists in several disciplines without much preparation. You don’t have time to train a lot of giant slalom or speed.”

All downhill skiers have a technical background

So a question to Franjo von Allmen, currently the best of the young whiz kids: Why don’t you do a giant slalom? The Bernese says: “I actually already had that thought. The giant slalom is definitely something I want to do more of in the future.”

Now it’s not like the 23-year-old can’t do it. Like all ski racers, trained by Allmen Giant Slalom. The giant technology is considered the basis for many things. The Swiss head coach Tom Stauffer said it this way: “Without a technical background, nobody becomes a successful downhill skier.”

Von Allmen has this background. Between 2019 and 2022 he was on the podium of an FIS race six times in both the slalom and the giant slalom. Then, however, a bruised chest threw him back. And suddenly there was rapid progress in the fast disciplines. So fast that he has now achieved five podium finishes in the World Cup – with victory in the Wegen Super-G as the highlight.

Von Allmen says: “At the moment I want to concentrate on the fast disciplines and not waste energy unnecessarily on other things.” Stauffer also mentions the use of resources as a factor. He says: “I certainly won’t take the boys to Kitzbühel with me to Schladming for the giant slalom if I feel that they are mentally at their limit.”

In the end, just going along doesn’t help

Starting a World Cup isn’t that easy anyway. To do this, an athlete must first improve on the FIS points lists. And that only works if you compete in FIS or European Cup races first. But there is an exception rule that would apply to von Allmen: Anyone who has more than 500 World Cup start list points in a season can start after the top 30 in any discipline. And the 23-year-old meets this criterion.

Stauffer says: “With a view to the overall World Cup, there is no point in starting with starting number 31 and finishing in 28th place. If an athlete also competes in giant slalom in addition to the speed disciplines, he has to be really ready for it so that he can get more than a few points, otherwise he would be better off using his resources so that he gets on the podium a few more times in the speed disciplines. Doing three disciplines takes a lot of energy.”