Bald and bold, Swiss skiers build on team spirit as they claim their 3rd gold at the worlds

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — Camaraderie, unity, team spirit.

Those are the virtues of the successful Swiss men's ski team, a tightly knit group of friends on and off the slopes.

However, after yet another triumphant day and its third gold medal at the Alpine skiing world championships, one issue diverges opinions within the team.

Should the slalom skiers shave hair off their heads?

All racers and coaches of the speed team did just that after Franjo von Allmen won gold and Alexis Monney bronze in Sunday's downhill, and their baldness has become a symbol of their friendship.

So when Von Allmen paired with slalom skier Loic Meillard on Wednesday to win the new team combined event, and even lead a Swiss sweep of the podium, the downhill world champion was quick to bring it up.

"I hope the tech coaches have brought the right tools for (shaving the hair),” Von Allmen said.

But Meillard didn't feel like joining in this time.

“No, I leave that for the young guys, I still have to look nice on the next races,” said the allrounder, who is set to compete in the giant slalom and slalom this week.

Von Allmen and Meillard won the event 0.27 seconds ahead of silver medalists Monney and Tanguy Nef.

Stefan Rogentin and Marc Rochat were 0.43 behind and took bronze.

“Totally crazy, three Swiss teams on the podium is amazing,” said Meillard, who raced the slalom after Von Allmen had done the downhill some three hours earlier.

“I think everyone on the team is going crazy,” added Meillard, who has a silver and two bronzes from previous worlds.

After waiting for Nef to come down, Monney leaped over four rows of barriers and ran into the finish area to embrace his teammate to celebrate their silver medal as the six-man Swiss party got started.

“Incredibly cool, not just my performance but the performance of the entire Swiss team," Monney said. “To be on the podium with six Swiss skiers is something for history.”

Earlier Wednesday, Monney posted the fastest time in the downhill portion, giving his teammate Nef a slim advantage of 0.02 seconds over Meillard to start the slalom.

However, Meillard completed his slalom run nearly three-tenths of a second faster than Nef.

“I was way more nervous than when I race just for myself,” Meillard said. “You want to perform well, also for your teammate.”

Von Allmen struggled early in his downhill run when he came off the race line and skied into the soft snow outside the blue lines. He just managed to make the next gate and then made up almost all of the time he lost there.

“Incredibly cool,” said the 23-year-old Von Allmen, who is on a breakout season with four World Cup podiums, including a super-G victory in Wengen. “I am still satisfied with any top-10 result, that is still good for me in my second World Cup season. What is happening here, I can’t put it into words.”

It is the first Swiss sweep of a men’s podium at the worlds since Peter Mueller, Pirmin Zurbriggen and Karl Alpiger won gold, silver and bronze in the downhill at their home 1987 worlds in Crans Montana.

And underlining the strength of Swiss ski racing, the nation occupied the top-six spots in a downhill on the lower-ranked European Cup circuit on Wednesday.

It's the third gold medal for the Swiss team at these worlds after Marco Odermatt won the super-G and Von Allmen the downhill, while Monney took bronze in the downhill. Switzerland won silver in the mixed-team parallel event last week.

Odermatt skipped the team combined, opting to prepare for the giant slalom on Friday, but the Swiss star attended the race and joined in the celebrations.

The team combined entails one racer competing in a downhill run and another in a slalom, with their two times added up to determine the final results.

The team combined will make its debut at next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics.

The American team of Ryan Cochran-Siegle in the downhill and Benjamin Ritchie in the slalom finished fourth and missed a medal by 0.26 seconds, a day after Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson won gold in the women’s event.

Cochran-Siegle was on the brink of matching his mother, Barbara Cochran, who won a world championship medal in 1970 — a silver in slalom. They both are Olympic medalists: he won super-G silver in 2022, she took slalom gold 50 years earlier.

The next race is the women's giant slalom on Thursday, which defending champion Shiffrin will sit out as she feels not ready yet to compete in GS following her crash in November.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

Switzerland's Loic Meillard, third from left, and teammate Franjo von Allmen, third from right, celebrate on the podium after winning the gold medal in a men's team combined event, with silver medalists Switzerland's Alexis Monney, left, and teammate Nef Tanguy, and and bronze medalists Switzerland's Marc Rochat, second from right, and teammate Stefan Rogentin, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Switzerland's Loic Meillard, third from left, and teammate Franjo von Allmen, third from right, celebrate on the podium after winning the gold medal in a men's team combined event, with silver medalists Switzerland's Alexis Monney, left, and teammate Nef Tanguy, and and bronze medalists Switzerland's Marc Rochat, second from right, and teammate Stefan Rogentin, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Switzerland's Loic Meillard, third from right, and teammate Franjo von Allmen, third from left, celebrate winning the gold medal in a men's team combined event, with silver medalists Switzerland's Nef Tanguy, left, and teammate Alexis Monney, second from left, and bronze medalists Switzerland's Stefan Rogentin, second from right, and teammate Marc Rochat, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Clockwise from left, Switzerland's Alexis Monney, Stefan Rogentin, Loic Meillard, Marc Rochat and Nef Tanguy celebrate at the finish area of a men's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Switzerland's Loic Meillard celebrates at the finish area of a slalom run of a men's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Italy's Dominik Paris competes in a downhill run of a men's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen competes in a downhill run of a men's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen celebrates at the finish area of a downhill run of a men's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Switzerland's Alexis Monney competes in a downhill run of a men's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Switzerland's Alexis Monney competes in a downhill run of a men's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Alexis Monney at the finish area of a downhill run of a men's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)