The men's downhill in the 2026 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of nine events, including the final. The season began with two downhills at Beaver Creek, Colorado (U.S.) on 4 and 5 December 2025, then proceeded to Europe for the remainder of the races, which was consistent with the initial schedule released on 12 June 2025. For the third straight season, Switzerland's Marco Odermatt won the discipline title.

The season was interrupted for the quadrennial 2026 Winter Olympics in three regions in Italy -- Milan, the Stelvio Pass, and Cortina d'Ampezzo -- during 6–22 February 2026. All of the Alpine skiing events for men took place on the classic Stelvio course at Bormio. The championship in men's downhill was held on Saturday, 7 February and was won by Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen, who placed second in the discipline for the season.

Season summary The start of the downhill season at Beaver Creek (U.S.) ran into scheduling problems, as high winds and a large impending weekend snowstorm led to (1) the cancellation of one of the two downhills scheduled there and (2) the date of the second one being moved up to the planned date of the first one (4 December); the cancelled race was added as a second downhill at Val Gardena (Italy) two weeks later. The contested downhill at Beaver Creek was then won by defending discipline champion Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, who defeated American Ryan Cochran-Siegle by 0.3 seconds. In the first of the two races now at Val Gardena, overcast conditions led to the downhill being shortened and still needing almost four hours to complete due to the delays caused by fog, but Odermatt won again for his 50th overall World Cup victory, edging his compatriot Franjo von Allmen and tying Alberto Tomba (Italy) for third all-time among World Cup men, with only Ingmar Stenmark (Sweden) (86 wins), Marcel Hirscher (Austria/Netherlands) (67), and Hermann Maier (Austria) (54) still ahead of him. Two days later, the results were flipped in the second downhill, with von Allmen edging Odermatt in a full-length downhill and closing to within 50 points of the discipline lead.

The downhill season resumed with back-to-back weeks in mid-January at Wengen, Switzerland, and Kitzbühel, Austria. The downhill at Wengen was run on a shortened course due to high winds, but Odermatt dominated to win his fourth straight downhill at Wengen, with Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr (0.79 sec) his closest challenger, thereby increasing Odermatt's lead in the discipline over von Allmen (who finished fourth) to exactly 100 points. But rising young Italian star Giovanni Franzoni, who had posted his first World Cup win the day before in a super-G at Wengen before finishing third in the downhill, got revenge the next week in the legendary downhill at Kitzbühel, edging Odermatt by 0.07 to win, and then dedicating the victory to his late friend and teammate and roommate at Kitzbühel last year Matteo Franzoso, who was killed in a training crash in Chile in September 2025. Finally, in the last race before the Olympics, von Allmen dominated the downhill at Crans Montana, Switzerland, defeating runner-up Dominik Paris of Italy by about two-thirds of a second for his second straight victory on the course, which kept von Allmen in second place in the discipline, 115 points behind Odermatt, with three races remaining after the Olympics.

At the Olympic downhill at Bormio, the Swiss got into position for an unprecedented podium sweep, with von Allmen in first by 0.7 second, followed by Odermatt and Alexis Monney. But the later-running Italians Franzoni and Dominik Paris (known as the "King of Bormio" for his seven victories there) both fed off the support from the home crowd and squeezed in between von Allmen and Odermatt, knocking Odermatt off the podium but retaining von Allmen as the fifth Swiss winner of the men's downhill (after Bernhard Russi, Pirmin Zurbriggen, Didier Defago, and Beat Feuz). In the first post-Olympic race at Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), Odermatt led an actual Swiss sweep of the podium, edging Monney by .04 seconds for his fourth downhill victory of the season and leaving him 175 points up on von Allmen with just two races remaining in the discipline. In the last downhill before the finals, at Courchevel (France), von Allmen failed to finish, which handed Odermatt, who was third, both the discipline title and the overall title; in the race itself, Kriechmayr edged Franzoni to become the first Austrian to win a downhill since he last did it three years prior (15 March 2023).

Finals The World Cup finals in the discipline took place on Saturday, 21 March 2026 on the Olympiabakken course at Kvitfjell, near Lillehammer, Norway. Only the top 25 skiers in the World Cup downhill discipline and the winner of the 2026 FIS Junior World Championships in the discipline (which was cancelled due to bad weather), plus any skiers who have scored at least 500 points in the World Cup overall classification for the season, were eligible to compete in the final, and only the top 15 earned World Cup points. All 23 of the healthy qualifiers competed (missing only Nils Alphand of France and Elian Lehto of Finland), as well as 500-point qualifier Marco Schwarz of Austria, setting the starting field at 24. In the race, Paris managed to reverse his results vis-à-vis von Allmen from Crans Montana in February, this time edging von Allmen by .19 seconds for his first win of the season, which enabled Paris to place third in the discipline for the season, behind only Odermatt and von Allmen.

Standings VenueR# #Skier Total   Marco Odermatt x 100100801008050④10060367062   Franjo von Allmen x 50801005015100①40DNF805153 Dominik Paris x 406040403680③29161004414 Vincent Kriechmayr x 457208020DNS⑥50100603825 Giovanni Franzoni x 23222601008②5080243786 Florian Schieder x 184060225029⑰32DNF262777   Alexis Monney x 2929DNF45026⑤80DNF502598 Nils Allègre x 22501329457⑧2024182289 Ryan Cochran-Siegle x 800DNF16060⑱3622021410   Stefan Rogentin x 32101806㉓60504020711 Mattia Casse x 8363232436⑪1113016312 Daniel Hemetsberger x 6151232DNF18⑦9402916113 Maxence Muzaton x 2008246022DNF814015614 Miha Hrobat x 15207295⑫12364515115 Cameron Alexander x 26DNSDNS361824⑭18DNF2214416 x 6040010DNSDNF16292013917 Benjamin Alliod x 018118045DNS7183213918   Niels Hintermann x 111136104015DNSDNSDNS012319   Justin Murisier x 1091514015DNS2626011520   Alessio Miggiano x DNS13450532DNS015011021 Raphael Haaser x 120DNS126DNS⑮545169622 Nils Alphand x 045500DNFDNF㉒DNS9523 Christof Innerhofer x 024026310DNS101108424 Elian Lehto x 1426262150⑳DNS8325 Martin Čater x 00DNF1303⑯223207026   Lars Rösti x 0501040DNS130NE5927 Luis Vogt x DNS10203213DNSDNSNE5728 Stefan Babinsky x 131800016㉖28NE5729 Felix Monsén x 0010264DNS149NE5430   Marco Kohler x 724020DNFDNSNE5131 Blaise Giezendanner x 00180100DNS153NE4632 Kyle Negomir x 02415000⑩06NE4533 Erik Arvidsson x 0000120DNS248NE4434 Simon Jocher x 00189110㉑00NE3835 Stefan Eichberger x 36DNSNE 3636 Adrien Théaux x 06290DNS0DNSNE3537 Bryce Bennett x 30511013⑬00NE3238 James Crawford x 084580⑨34NE3239 Andreas Ploier x 0DNS24601DNS0DNSNE3140 Wiley Maple x 0000122DNS610NE3041 Alban Elezi Cannaferina x 0DNS422DNS㉗DNS0NE2642 Aleksander Aamodt Kilde x 240DNSDNS0DNSNE2443   Livio Hiltbrand x 0300020DNS00NE2344 Stefan Rieser x DNS1490DNF0DNSDNSDNSNE2345 Henrik Von Appen x 006150DNFDNSNE2146 Romed Baumann x 9120000DNS0DNSNE2147   Arnaud Boisset x DNS020NE2048 Brodie Seger x 1600020㉘02NE2049 Charles Gamel Seigneur x DNS00DNS160DNSDNSDNFNE1650 Matthieu Bailet x 0DNS3DNF130DNS00NE1651 Guglielmo Bosca x 0DNSDNSDNF011DNSDNF5NE1652 Sam Alphand x DNS10DSQDNS0DNS5DNFNE1553 Vincent Wieser x DNS00DNS00DNS012NE1254 Manuel Traninger x 00DNS070DNSDNS0NE755 Sam Morse x 007000⑲00NE756 Jan Zabystřan x 500000㉔DNS0NE557 Jeffrey Read x 000040㉕01NE558 Nejc Naraločnik x 40DNFDNSNE 459 Marco Schwarz x DNS200260 Fredrik Møller x 1DNFDNS0DNSDNF0NE1References

Legend

DNF = Did not finish DSQ = Disqualified

R# = Rescheduled (make-up) race

See also 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's summary rankings 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's overall 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's super-G 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's giant slalom 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's slalom World Cup scoring system

References

External links Alpine skiing at FIS website

External links