After growing up together at Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, River Radamus and Kyle Negomir pair up for Olympic Team Combined
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP photo
Former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail athletes Kyle Negomir and River Radamus weren’t able to pull off an upset in the men’s team combined Monday morning at the Milan Cortina Olympics, but getting paired up in the first place was memorable in and of itself.
“Me and River have grown up skiing together. I’ve been getting beat by this dude for the last 10 years of my life,” Negomir said. “So, to be able to team up and have seen first-hand all the sacrifices he puts in day-in, day-out to get to this point, it just makes me really proud to be on the team and be a part of this.”
The team combined — wherein two athletes from one country add together times from a single downhill and slalom to determine the overall winner — is a new Olympic event this year. It made its debut at the world championships last winter, where the U.S. pairing of Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Benjamin Ritchie finished fourth behind three different Swiss squads. On Monday, the Americans had just one team.
Negomir earned the downhill slot courtesy of his 10th-place performance in the men’s downhill on Saturday. U.S. coaches said the combined start would be given to whomever was the top American finisher.
“So, (it) wasn’t necessarily expecting to race this by any means, but I think it was a good goal and to be able to team up with River — who is one of my best friends for a long time — is really special,” Negomir said before adding that he didn’t necessarily feel extra pressure on Monday compared to Saturday.
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“I don’t know if it adds more pressure but I think it just adds more motivation,” he continued. “It’s something pretty unique in our sport to ski for a team and take risks and really push the limit for more than yourself.”
Negomir skied cleanly through the first few gates and gained back six hundredths in the third sector to move into seventh place. His left ski got twisted up going over a riser midway through, but the 27-year-old recovered before flying off the iconic San Pietro jump. The athletic save cost him, however, and fatigue may have played a role in losing 1.29 seconds on the final split.
“The legs are definitely tired,” said Negomir, who had the U.S. in 16th position after the downhill portion of the program. “The legs are always tired — it’s Bormio, you know, and I think having the adrenaline and the pressure of the Olympics means that when you’re in the course, you’re not feeling a thing.”
Negomir said he watched Saturday’s game film and found a “few spots” to clean up. His overall approach, however, wasn’t any different on Monday.
“I’m like, ‘OK, I can improve here, I can improve here,’ and sort of knowing at the start, alright it’s really good conditions again and if you want to be fast — I mean (we’re) coming in, really as an underdog team,” he said. “I think we had to really be pushing the limit to be competitive and fight for a medal here. And I think I might have gone just over the limit unfortunately on a couple turns and made a few too many mistakes.”
Radamus said he was “moved” watching his friend, whom he’s known since he was 10 years old.
“He skied so hard. He skied with all his heart and made a couple mistakes, but he was skiing so fearlessly,” Radamus said. “So, I knew it was my turn to return the favor.”
Radamus took to the Stelvio slope a couple hours later. The 27-year-old Edwards skier looked better with every turn. He was 19th after the first split, but posted the 11th-best third sector time and eighth-best final split to finish in 53.35 seconds. His mark was still 1.53 seconds off the leaders, however, as the U.S. settled for 19th overall.
“Once you get to the flat, it’s really, really flat. So, the key part of the course is carrying the speed from the top of the pitch onto the flats because it sort of sets you up for the whole second half of the course,” Radamus said. “I didn’t ski the way I wanted to on that top section and that cost me all the way down.”
Franjo von Allmen followed up his downhill gold medal with a win in the team combined event alongside Tanguy Nef. The 24-year-old von Allmen won the downhill and team combined double at worlds last March as well. The Swiss team’s two-run time was 2:44.04, nearly a second ahead of Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller, who shared silver with Marco Odermatt and Loic Meillard.
Negomir was injured during the 2022 Olympics and missed the cut for worlds last winter. On a mission since the spring, his 2025-26 season has been marked by significant improvement. He was the best American at the Val Gardena triple-header in December. On Monday, he credited his trust in the daily grind for getting him to his first Olympics.
“You might not see it pay off that week or season or necessarily that year at all, but sort of trusting that cumulative work and all the small steps are going to pay off,” he said.
River Radamus — who picked up two fourth-place finishes four years ago in Beijing — will have his best medal shot in the giant slalom on Feb. 14 but is also contesting the slalom on Feb. 16. He and Negomir are both in the super-G on Feb. 11 as well.
“I don’t think either of us had perfect runs,” Radamus said. “But as (Kyle) said, we grew up together, we’ve seen the sacrifices each other have made, we’ve pushed each other for years now. So, getting to race for my brother and for my country is a really special moment.”
