Why were no bronze medals awarded on men's combined podium? Explanation as Switzerland's Tanguy Nef, Franjo von Allmen and Marco Odermatt take medals
By Leon Imber
Updated 09/02/2026 at 15:53 GMT
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Fans of symmetry were left wildly disappointed when the podium for the men's combined event on Monday - comprising six men - was particularly left-heavy. In an intriguing outcome, Austrian pair Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller and Switzerland duo Marco Odermatt and Loic Meillard shared the silver medal after clocking the exact same combined times - leaving the bronze medal position sparse.
FOUR silver medals? Swiss and Austrian pairings share unusual moment
Video credit: TNT Sports
The medal ceremony following the men's combined event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Monday saw a strikingly lopsided podium.
At the summit - Switzerland's Tanguy Nef and Franjo von Allmen. After Von Allmen clocked the fourth-fastest time of 1:52.22 in the downhill leg, Nef stormed through the slalom in a staggering 51.82 - powering his nation to a third gold medal of the Games to that point.
Behind them, there was an intriguing outcome.
Representing Austria, Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller claimed silver with a combined time of 2:45.03, 0.99 seconds behind the gold medal-winning pair.
Remarkably, the Swiss duo of Marco Odermatt and Loic Meillard clocked the exact same combined times over the downhill and slalom legs - sparking some intrigue as to how exactly the medals would be awarded.
But as it turned out, the second-placed spot on the podium was occupied by all four skiers, with the bronze-medal position deserted.
It served as a cruel blow for the Austrian pair of Raphael Haaser and Michael Matt, who finished just three hundredths of a second behind the tied teams for silver - narrowly missing out on a medal.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
The skipping of medals is an intriguing formality in the Olympics medal-awarding process, which has been seen in similar instances in previous editions of the Games.
At the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim made athletics history when - facing off for gold - they opted to shake hands and share the accolade. In this instance, the silver medal was skipped, with Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus claiming bronze.
In some sports, there are protocols in place in order to avoid the sharing of medals. These include tie-breakers, overtime, extra innings or shootouts, but there was no decider for silver in the combined event on Monday, as the Swiss and Austrian teams shared the honour.
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The medal-winning teams were made to nervously watch on as their hopes hung in the balance with Italy's Alex Vinatzer the last man to take on the slalom. After his team-mate, Giovanni Franzoni, posted the fastest time of the downhill leg, the pressure was on Vinatzer to seal gold for the home nation - what would have been their second of the Winter Olympics thus far.
However, he buckled under the weight of the pressure, clocking the third-slowest time of the 20 slalom runs - culminating in a seventh-placed overall finish.
Gold and silver medals continued a fine start for Switzerland at Milano Cortina, as Von Allmen won his second gold in three days after upsetting Odermatt in Saturday's downhill event, while Mathilde Gremaud topped the podium, beating off competition from the likes of Team GB's Kirsty Muir and China's Eileen Gu in Monday's freeski slopestyle final.
Watch every event of Milano Cortina 2026 live on discovery+. Available across all subscription plans, starting at £3.99.
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