From a Swiss perspective, the supreme discipline is developing positively, with even 22-year-olds ranking among the world elite. But examples from the past show that early successes do not guarantee a great career.
He has only been competing regularly in the World Cup this winter and is already being compared to Beat Feuz: Franjo von Allmen.
Jean-Christophe Bott / Keystone
With the resignation of Beat Feuz almost exactly a year ago, an era came to an end. He had dominated downhill for a long time, becoming world champion and Olympic champion, among other things. Mauro Caviezel was forced to retire in 2023; he never fully recovered from a traumatic brain injury. And Urs Kryenbühl has struggled with various problems in recent years and will also be out this winter.
This meant that the Swiss downhill team lost a large part of the lead and their hopes rested primarily on the all-rounder Marco Odermatt. But now new names are coming to the fore. Not all of them are young, but all of them have a few kilometers of downhill skiing under their belt and have already made an exclamation mark this winter. This gives the team a new dynamic.
Justin Murisier, a 32-year-old youngster
Justin Murisier is the senior of the group, he has 32 years under his belt and has had many painful experiences behind him. He first attracted attention in the World Cup as a slalom skier, that was in 2010. At that time, the Valais native was considered a possible overall World Cup winner in the future. But then he tore his cruciate ligaments twice in a row. On the way back in 2018 he was stopped again by a torn cruciate ligament.
Murisier then caught up with the world‘s best in the giant slalom, but in December 2021, at the age of almost 30, he started his first downhill run in the World Cup. He said in Wengen that he had always dreamed of becoming a downhill skier. This may also be because he has a famous role model in the family: his uncle William Besse won the Lauberhorn downhill run in 1994.
He first excelled in slalom, and at the age of 30 he launched a career as a downhill skier: Justin Murisier.
Claudia Greco / Reuters
Murisier slowly approached the supreme discipline; he had to get to know the slopes and, above all, change his technique: from the aggressive, short swing of the giant slalom to the sensitive gliding through the long curves of the downhill run.
Today the 32-year-old forms a kind of tandem with Odermatt. The two always share a room in the summer, they visit the routes together and discuss the choice of route. Murisier says that Odermatt showed him what was possible in downhill skiing with the technique of a giant slalom skier: things that no one else would dare to do.
In the meantime, Murisier has largely achieved the transformation; he narrowly missed the podium in fourth place in Bormio in December and followed that up with a tenth place in Wengen on Thursday.
Odermatt and Murisier embody the modern type of downhill skier who acquires strong technique in the giant slalom and then switches to the fast disciplines. This has been considered the cardinal path since carving skis entered the World Cup in the 1990s. But there is another way, as the young wild ones in the Swiss team show.
As a boy, Alexis Monney told his grandfather that he wanted to one day become a ski racer and a millionaire. The talent for this seems to have been innate in him. The father, Louis Monney, told the NZZ: “Sometimes it seemed to me that he didn’t have to learn to ski – he could just do it.” This father knows what he is talking about when he talks about skiing; he once trained in the Paul Accola World Cup.
Son Alexis was carefully supported, but the course was set early for the downhill run; the giant slalom only played a secondary role. In 2020 he became junior world champion. Then he took the shortest route. In the European Cup he had only achieved two top 10 finishes when he was called up to the World Cup for the first time. And there he quickly found his footing: in the tenth race he made it into the top 10 for the first time.
That was a year ago in Wengen, he came tenth. A week later he came eleventh in his first outing on the infamous Streif in Kitzbühel. This year, the 24-year-old confirmed his talent with places 13 in Bormio and 12 in the shortened descent on the Lauberhorn. Monney has moved into the top 30 in the world; all other athletes in this group are at least three years older than him.
He didn’t have to learn to ski – he just knew how to do it: Alexis Monney in downhill training in Wengen.
Jean-Christophe Bott / Keystone
Franjo von Allmen is even younger than Monney – and the Bernese got off to an even more brilliant start in the World Cup than the Freiburger. In his first Super-G, in Val Gardena, von Allmen placed 9th, followed by 12th place in the downhill a day later. That was in his third appearance in the premier discipline. He finished the first descent from Wengen in fourteenth place.
That is very impressive for a 22-year-old. But the way in which von Allmen achieved this result is almost unbelievable. He started the race with number 36, but had to abort his journey because his teammate Marco Kohler fell in the Haneggschuss shortly before him. Von Allmen slowly glided past Kohler and down to the finish, where he got a helicopter ride back to the start.
High start numbers are no advantage in Wengen, plus the fact that a driver has to mentally build up a second time and throw himself down the slope with acidic legs. Von Allmen took it all in his stride and thundered into the middle of the world elite. In doing so, he demonstrated what is probably his greatest quality: He doesn’t let anything bother him and is therefore often compared to Beat Feuz. However, in the Super-G on Friday, von Allmen showed how hard life can be in this sport – he fell at high speed.
He doesn’t let anything bother him: Franjo von Allmen jumps over the Hundschopf on the Lauberhorn.
Jean-Christophe Bott / Keystone
Comparing talents with well-known greats is tricky. It also exists for Marco Kohler, whose career ran parallel to that of Marco Odermatt for a long time. The two raced against each other as children, they attended the sports middle school together in Engelberg, and there are people who say that Kohler was at least as strong as Odermatt back then.
They parted ways in 2018 when both were selected for the Junior World Championships in Davos. Kohler was injured in training, Odermatt won gold five times and was considered a promise from then on. Today he is the best skier in the world.
Odermatt encouraged his friend during the long rehabilitation
Kohler fought back and started 2020 as the front rider on the Lauberhorn. In the finish S he made a mistake and completely damaged his knee. During the long rehabilitation he sometimes doubted his future as a racing driver. But Odermatt kept contacting him, asking about progress and encouraging him. “He is my best friend,” said Kohler in Wengen.
His recovery was abruptly halted by a fall: Marco Kohler during a training ride.
Jean-Christophe Bott / Keystone
Last winter, Kohler won the downhill ranking in the European Cup and thus secured a permanent starting place for this World Cup season. In Val Gardena the 26-year-old excelled with 8th place, in Bormio he achieved 10th place in the downhill and 13th place in the Super-G. But then the crash followed on Thursday in Wengen. He also took the helicopter, but it flew to the hospital. Fears about the future of sport begin again.
Kohler is an extreme example of how early highs are no guarantee of long-term success. Another is Gilles Roulin. The Zurich native finished 12th in his third World Cup downhill, and in the fifth race he narrowly missed the podium in fourth place. That was in 2017, since then his career has been up and down, individual top rankings have always been followed by setbacks, and he has never been on the podium.
Roulin completed his master’s degree in law a year ago and worked at a law firm during the summer. In May he will turn 30 and is considering whether he should become a lawyer. But his focus is on skiing. Roulin says: “It is still a dream for me that I can compete in World Cup races.”
Gilles Roulin after his brilliant start to the World Cup.
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