Swiss ski star Odermatt wins foggy downhill to match Tomba's 50 in World Cup races

VAL GARDENA, Italy (AP) — Marco Odermatt found moments of clarity on a foggy day in the Italian Dolomites to race to victory in a World Cup downhill on Thursday.

A 50th career World Cup win for the Swiss generational talent — matching Italian slalom great Alberto Tomba on the all-time men's list — came 50 days before the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Olympics where Odermatt shapes to be a star.

“It’s a crazy number," Odermatt said. “I had an incredible season start with a fifth victory already. But I’m not a guy who looks too far ahead.”

Odermatt rode the bumps and rolls on a shortened version of the Saslong course to finish 0.15 seconds faster than Franjo von Allmen, the reigning world champion. Italian veteran Dominik Paris was third, trailing by 0.19.

Sunshine lit the bottom half of the course where Odermatt, wearing bib No. 14, was decisively fast to win a race that started 75 minutes late because of fog shrouding the top of the course.

There was a short delay for fog minutes after No. 6 starter Von Allmen set the fastest time and touched 129 kph (80 mph).

Odermatt acknowledged seeing his Swiss teammate's time was “tough to beat. I started a little bit faster and those hundredths were exactly the difference.”

There was a longer stoppage for fog once the top-ranked racers completed their runs, then the race was interrupted again when No. 45 starter Fredrik Moeller had to be airlifted from the course. He crashed hard on his back while setting a fast time that matched Odermatt.

Minutes later, using the improving light, No. 47 starter Nils Alphand threatened a shock by leading at halfway. He placed fifth, just 0.27 back.

Victory extended Odermatt’s already big lead in the overall standings chasing a fifth straight title. He also won the season-opening downhill two weeks ago at Beaver Creek, Colorado.

A 1-2 result for Switzerland’s top speed racers is routine in World Cup downhills. Odermatt twice won last season with Von Allmen as runner-up, including at Val Gardena, and Odermatt was second in each of Von Allmen’s two World Cup wins.

Odermatt reached 50 World Cup wins at age 28 and tied Tomba for fourth on the all-time men’s list.

Ingmar Stenmark, the Swedish slalom and giant slalom great from the 1970s and ’80s, leads the men with 86 wins. The wins record was extended to 105 by Mikaela Shiffrin winning a slalom on Tuesday at Courchevel, France.

Thursday’s race replaced a downhill canceled by the weather this month at Beaver Creek. Val Gardena stages a super-G on Friday then the classic Saslong race on Saturday over the full downhill distance.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde during the course inspection ahead of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Luciano Bisi)

France's Nils Alphand at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen competes during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Luciano Bisi)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Trump Media & Technology will merge with a fusion power company in an all-stock deal that the companies said Thursday is valued at more than $6 billion.

Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman who resigned in 2021 to become the CEO of Trump Media, will be co-CEO of the new company with TAE Technologies CEO Michl Binderbauer.

The combined company says it plans to find a site and begin construction next year on the “world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant,” with aims to provide the electricity needed for artificial intelligence.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology, the parent company of President Donald Trump's Truth Social media platform, have tumbled 70% this year but jumped 20% before the opening bell Thursday.

Backed by Google and other investors, TAE is a private company and the merger with Trump Media would create one of the first publicly traded nuclear fusion companies.

“We’re taking a big step forward toward a revolutionary technology that will cement America’s global energy dominance for generations," Nunes said in a prepared statement.

TAE focuses on nuclear fusion, a technology that combines two light atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one. It releases enormous amount of energy, a process that occurs on the sun and other stars, according to the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency. It's been seen as a promising solution to climate change caused by burning fossil fuels, but one that is a long way off compared to today's clean technologies like wind and solar.

TAE and Trump Media shareholders will each own approximately 50% of the combined company.

Trump is by far the largest stakeholder in Trump Media, owning 41% of all outstanding shares.

In October, the U.S. Department of Energy released what it called a “roadmap” for fusion technology, with the aim of fostering “a burgeoning fusion private sector industry in the U.S. toward maturity on the most rapid timeline.” A number of tech companies, including Google, Microsoft and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have shown interest in fusion technology as a way of powering the energy-hungry data centers needed to build and run their AI products.

TAE and Trump Media say the transaction values each TAE common stock at $53.89 per share.

At closing, Trump Media & Technology Group will be the holding company for Truth Social and TAE, along with its subsidiaries TAE Power Solutions and TAE Life Sciences.

FILE - The download screen for Truth Social app is seen on a laptop computer, March 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)