Second gold for Von Allmen as Swiss sweep team combined medals

Franjo von Allmen got a second gold at the alpine skiing world championships with the help of partner Loic Meillard when they led a stunning Swiss medal sweep in the team combined event.

Sunday's downhill winner Von Allmen trailed that event's bronze medallist Alexis Monney by two-hundredths after the downhill portion but Meillard turned matters around in the concluding slalom leg.

The pair competing as Switzerland 1 prevailed by .27 of a second over Monney and Tanguy Nef who as the last skier was unable to preserve the slender lead.

Stefan Rogentin and Marc Rochat aka Switzerland 4 fought from eighth to bronze to complete the memorable sweep.

Von Allmen emulated American Breezy Johnson as a downhill and team combined world champion in Saalbach.

Several other teams suffered heartbreak when slalom stars led by four-time season winner and Olympic champion Clement Noel of France and Austrian discipline World Cup champion Manuel Feller straddled gates and failed to finish.

Not competing Wednesday was Swiss superstar Marco Odermatt, who won super-g gold and is also the big favourite in the giant slalom scheduled for Friday.