Newly-crowned Olympic downhill champion Franjo von Allmen won a historic second gold of the Winter Games when he partnered Swiss teammate Tanguy Nef to victory in the team combined event in Bormio on Monday.
Von Allmen finished fourth fastest in the downhill down the Stelvio course before Nef laid down a near-faultless slalom run for a winning aggregate time of 2min 44.04sec.
Another Swiss pairing, runaway World Cup overall leader Marco Odermatt and world slalom champion Loic Meillard, tied for silver alongside the Austrian duo of Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller. Both teams were 0.99sec off the winning pace.
"It's a very special event, tension, nerves," said Von Allmen, who became the first Swiss male skier to win two Olympic golds in the history of the Winter Games.
"The morning was easier than the afternoon! I much prefer being in the start hut than at the bottom watching."
Nef, with no World Cup podiums to his name, said his run was "definitely one of my best".
"Franjo is an inspiration, I wanted to give my best and I had the opportunity to give 100 per cent."
Odermatt said his silver went some way to easing the disappointment of finishing fourth in the downhill.
"I wasn't happy with that, but I was happy to have another chance this morning, and Loic brought it down. It's nice to share a medal with a friend," the reigning Olympic giant slalom champion said.
The team combined event, which was making its Olympic debut at the Milan-Cortina Games, comprised two racers from the same nation racing a downhill and a slalom, with the fastest aggregate time earning the gold medal.
Countries were allowed to enter multiple teams in the event: skiing powerhouses Switzerland, Italy and Austria each had four teams entered on Monday, while France had three. Just nine countries were represented.
"I'm a big fan of this event," said Kriechmayr. "Today the best of the best were in the start hut, with 10 teams with realistic prospects of winning, and it came down to milliseconds."
In-form Italian speedster Giovanni Franzoni, fresh from winning a silver medal in the individual downhill behind Von Allmen on Saturday, had set up teammate Alex Vinatzer with a shot at Olympic gold after setting the fastest time in the opening downhill.
But it was not to be as Vinatzer faltered on his slalom run, managing only the 18th fastest time, the couple eventually finishing seventh.
NEF OUTPACES NOEL
Feller had blasted down the second fastest slalom run to ensure he and Kreichmayr sat provisionally atop the times.
That left the top six, France's reigning Olympic slalom champion Clement Noel up first, but failing to fire, he and Nils Allegre finishing joint fifth.
Tommaso Sala pushed for Italy 2, but there was to be no second Olympic medal for his downhill partner Dominik Paris as the pair finished off the podium alongside the French duo.
Then came the powerful trio of Swiss teams, Nef into the starting blocks with partner Von Allmen, draped in a Swiss flag, a nervous onlooker at the finish area.
The slalom specialist laid down a fantastic run, clocking a leading 51.82sec to hand Switzerland 2 a psychological advantage with just three teams to come.
Nef's teammate Meillard, Odermatt's partner but who had teamed up with Von Allmen to world combined gold in Saalbach last year, was next down the slope but was unable to dislodge his Swiss rivals.
Daniel Yule, representing Switzerland 3 along with Alexis Monney – second fastest in the downhill, made a huge error to ensure they finished nowhere near a podium place in 13th spot.
All eyes turned on Vinatzer in the start hut, but he looked nowhere near as slick as Nef and Feller, chopping down the course and losing time at every interval.