Alpine skiing at the 1992 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

Men's downhill
at the XVI Olympic Winter Games
Alpine skiing
VenueLa face de Bellevarde
Val-d'Isère, France
Date9 February 1992
Competitors55 from 24 nations
Winning time1:50.37
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Patrick Ortlieb  Austria
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Franck Piccard  France
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Günther Mader  Austria
← 1988
1994 →
  • v
  • t
  • e
Men's Downhill
LocationLa face de Bellevarde
Val d'Isère, France
Vertical   973 m (3,192 ft)
Top elevation2,809 m (9,216 ft)  
Base elevation1,836 m (6,024 ft)
Longest run3.048 km (1.894 mi)

The Men's Downhill competition of the Albertville 1992 Olympics was held at Val d'Isère on Sunday, 9 February.[1][2]

The defending world champion was Franz Heinzer of Switzerland, who was also the defending World Cup downhill champion and led the current season.[3][4] Defending Olympic champion Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland had retired from competition two years earlier; this was the fourth consecutive Olympics without the defending champion in the field.

The race was run on a new course on La face de Bellevarde, designed by 1972 champion Bernhard Russi. Austria's Patrick Ortlieb, who had yet to win a World Cup event, won the gold medal; Franck Piccard of France was only 0.05 seconds back to take the silver, and the bronze medalist was Günther Mader of Austria.[5][6] Ortlieb was first racer on the course, and he became the fifth Austrian to win the event, in its twelfth edition. Heinzer was sixth, more than a second back.

The course started at an elevation of 2,809 m (9,216 ft) above sea level with a vertical drop of 973 m (3,192 ft) and a course length of 3.048 km (1.89 mi). Ortlieb's winning time of 110.37 seconds yielded an average course speed of 99.418 km/h (61.8 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 8.816 m/s (28.9 ft/s).

Results

The race was started at 12:15 local time, (UTC +1). At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was 5.0 °C (41 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was lower, at 3.0 °C (37 °F).

Rank Bib Name Country Time Difference
1st place, gold medalist(s) 1 Patrick Ortlieb  Austria 1:50.37 —
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 23 Franck Piccard  France 1:50.42 +0.05
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 14 Günther Mader  Austria 1:50.47 +0.10
4 2 Markus Wasmeier  Germany 1:50.62 +0.25
5 6 Jan Einar Thorsen  Norway 1:50.79 +0.42
6 12 Franz Heinzer  Switzerland 1:51.39 +1.02
7 3 Hansjörg Tauscher  Germany 1:51.49 +1.12
8 5 Lasse Arnesen  Norway 1:51.63 +1.26
9 15 A J Kitt  United States 1:51.98 +1.61
10 22 Franco Colturi  Italy 1:52.07 +1.70
11 13 Kristian Ghedina  Italy 1:52.28 +1.91
12 16 Luc Alphand  France 1:52.34 +1.97
13 4 Daniel Mahrer  Switzerland 1:52.39 +2.02
14 30 Gianfranco Martin  Italy 1:52.48 +2.11
15 7 Xavier Gigandet  Switzerland 1:52.50 +2.13
16 28 Kyle Rasmussen  United States 1:52.71 +2.34
17 10 Helmut Höflehner  Austria 1:53.10 +2.73
18 26 Felix Belczyk  Canada 1:53.37 +3.00
19 11 Berni Huber  Germany 1:53.38 +3.01
20 21 Tommy Moe  United States 1:53.40 +3.03
21 34 Vitaly Andreyev  Unified Team 1:53.52 +3.15
22 33 Aleksey Maslov  Unified Team 1:53.68 +3.31
23 8 Brian Stemmle  Canada 1:53.77 +3.40
24 32 Konstantin Chistyakov  Unified Team 1:53.93 +3.56
25 39 Tsuyoshi Tomii  Japan 1:54.23 +3.86
26 37 Kjetil André Aamodt  Norway 1:54.24 +3.87
27 25 Denis Rey  France 1:54.28 +3.91
28 24 Reggie Crist  United States 1:54.54 +4.17
29 38 Martin Bell  Great Britain 1:54.83 +4.46
30 45 Ricardo Campo  Spain 1:54.89 +4.52
31 19 Boris Duncan  Great Britain 1:54.95 +4.58
32 40 Tom Stiansen  Norway 1:55.62 +5.25
33 35 Graham Bell  Great Britain 1:55.82 +5.45
34 41 Marián Bíreš  Czechoslovakia 1:56.21 +5.84
35 42 Paulo Oppliger  Chile 1:56.30 +5.93
36 36 Steven Lee  Australia 1:58.55 +8.18
37 50 Petar Dichev  Bulgaria 2:01.21 +10.84
38 48 Hubertus von Hohenlohe  Mexico 2:02.98 +12.61
39 54 Choi Yong-hee  South Korea 2:04.85 +14.48
40 47 Alexis Racloz  Chile 2:05.61 +15.24
41 46 Lothar Christian Munder  Brazil 2:07.34 +16.97
42 55 Emilian Focşeneanu  Romania 2:08.81 +18.44
43 51 Péter Kristály  Hungary 2:09.88 +19.51
44 56 Aurel Foiciuc  Romania 2:09.94 +19.57
45 52 Lamine Guèye  Senegal 2:12.84 +22.47
- 9 Leonhard Stock  Austria DNF -
- 17 Danilo Sbardellotto  Italy DNF -
- 18 Marc Girardelli  Luxembourg DNF -
- 20 Adrien Duvillard  France DNF -
- 27 Paul Accola  Switzerland DNF -
- 31 Roman Torn  Canada DNF -
- 43 Markus Foser  Liechtenstein DNF -
- 44 Nils Linneberg  Chile DNF -
- 53 Alphonse Gomis  Senegal DNF -
- 29 Cary Mullen  Canada DQ -

Source:[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Albertville 1992 Official Report" (PDF). Le Comite d'Organisation des Jeux Olympiques Albertville. LA84 Foundation. 1992. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  2. ^ "Alpine Skiing at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games: Men's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  3. ^ "1991 World Cup standings". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  4. ^ "1991 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  5. ^ "It's all downhill for Austria's alpine gold medalist". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 10 February 1992. p. 1D.
  6. ^ Johnson, William Oscar (February 17, 1992). "La Face job". Sports Illustrated. p. 36.

External links

  • FIS results