Carrabassett Valley native Sam Morse finished 19th in his Olympic men’s downhill debut Saturday at Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio, Italy.

Morse, 29, finished his run in 1 minutes, 53.68 seconds, a little more than two seconds behind gold medalist Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland.

“Really, really difficult downhill,” Morse said in a video shared to the Press Herald by his father, Earle. “One of the hardest that we have had on the circuit in many, many years.”

On a picture-perfect day in Bormio, von Allmen powered through the challenging Stelvio course in 1:51.61 to keep the Olympic downhill title in the Swiss family. His time was good enough to withstand Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni, who finished .20 seconds back to claim the silver medal. Franzoni’s teammate, 36-year-old Dominik Paris, had a fast run to take bronze and knock Marco Odermatt of Switzerland off the podium.

Von Allmen skier sometimes goes under the radar of his compatriot Odermatt, who has won four straight overall World Cup titles. They’re fast friends and friendly rivals. They share course information but hold a little back, too. Turns out, von Allmen had the better inside track on the demanding hill.

“I had a good feeling,” Odermatt said. “But it was just not fast enough.”

It’s been quite a run of success for von Allmen, who won the downhill at the world championships in Austria last winter. He’s using the same ski technician who Swiss racer Beat Feuz relied on to win the downhill at the 2022 Beijing Games before retiring.

“It feels like a movie,” von Allmen said. “How could you imagine the Olympics better than to start with a gold medal? Amazing. It’s difficult to describe it in words.”

Morse was one of four Americans to compete in the downhill. Kyle Negomir of Colorado finished 10th in 1:53.20, Bryce Bennett was 13th in 1:53.45, and Ryan Cochran-Siegle placed 18th in 1:53.63.

“It was a beautiful sunny day, I executed my plan like I wanted,” Morse said. “Would have loved a couple more 10ths (of a second) to crack the top 15, but from where I was at in my training runs and throughout the season, really great run for me.”