Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics – Women's downhill

The Women's downhill competition of the Lake Placid 1980 Olympics was held at Whiteface Mountain on Sunday, February 17.[1][2][3][4][5]

Women's Downhill at the XIII Olympic Winter Games
Alpine skiing
Venue	Whiteface Mountain
Date	February 17
Competitors	28 from 13 nations
Winning time	1:37.52
Medalists
Annemarie Moser-Pröll  Austria Hanni Wenzel  Liechtenstein Marie-Theres Nadig  Switzerland

Women's Downhill
Location	Whiteface Mountain
Vertical	700 m (2,297 ft)
Top elevation	1,181 m (3,875 ft)
Base elevation	481 m (1,578 ft)

The defending world champion was Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria, who was also the defending World Cup downhill champion, while Switzerland's Marie-Theres Nadig led the current season.[6][7] Defending Olympic champion Rosi Mittermaier retired four years earlier.

Moser-Pröll won the gold, Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein took the silver, and Nadig was the bronze medalist.[3][4][5]

The course started at an elevation of 1,181 m (3,875 ft) above sea level with a vertical drop of 700 m (2,297 ft) and a length of 2.698 km (1.68 mi). Moser-Pröll's winning time was 97.52 seconds, yielding an average speed of 99.598 km/h (61.9 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 7.178 m/s (23.5 ft/s).

Results

The race was started at 11:30 local time, (UTC −5). At the starting gate, the skies were partly cloudy, the temperature was −14 °C (7 °F), wind speed was 25–40 km/h (16–25 mph), and the snow condition was hard packed.

Rank	Bib	Name	Country	Time	Difference
	6	Annemarie Moser-Pröll	Austria	1:37.52	—
	12	Hanni Wenzel	Liechtenstein	1:38.22	+0.70
	9	Marie-Theres Nadig	Switzerland	1:38.36	+0.84
4	14	Heidi Preuss	United States	1:39.51	+1.99
5	19	Kathy Kreiner	Canada	1:39.53	+2.01
6	20	Ingrid Eberle	Austria	1:39.63	+2.11
7	22	Torill Fjeldstad	Norway	1:39.69	+2.17
7	11	Cindy Nelson	United States	1:39.69	+2.17
9	18	Marianne Zechmeister	West Germany	1:39.96	+2.44
10	5	Jana Šoltýsová	Czechoslovakia	1:40.71	+3.19
11	4	Laurie Graham	Canada	1:40.74	+3.22
11	2	Bernadette Zurbriggen	Switzerland	1:40.74	+3.22
13	24	Loni Klettl	Canada	1:40.95	+3.43
14	16	Holly Flanders	United States	1:40.96	+3.44
15	23	Cristina Gravina	Italy	1:40.99	+3.47
16	17	Marie-Luce Waldmeier	France	1:41.05	+3.53
17	13	Evi Mittermaier	West Germany	1:41.26	+3.74
17	7	Doris de Agostini	Switzerland	1:41.26	+3.74
19	3	Irene Epple	West Germany	1:41.68	+4.16
20	8	Annemarie Bischofsberger	Switzerland	1:41.93	+4.41
21	15	Monika Bader	West Germany	1:41.96	+4.44
22	1	Cornelia Pröll	Austria	1:42.44	+4.92
23	21	Petra Wenzel	Liechtenstein	1:42.50	+4.98
24	25	Moira Cargill	Great Britain	1:42.82	+5.30
25	26	Valentina Iliffe	Great Britain	1:43.28	+5.76
26	27	Anna Archibald	New Zealand	1:46.68	+9.16
27	28	Farida Rahmed	Lebanon	2:42.88	+65.36
-	10	Caroline Attia	France	DNF	-

Source:[1][5]

References

1. "The Official Report of the XIIIth Olympic Winter Games Lake Placid 1980 - Official Results" (PDF). Lake Placid Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. 1980. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
2. "Alpine Skiing at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games: Women's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
3. Johnson, William Oscar (February 11, 1980). "The Downhill: Majesty and Madness". Sports Illustrated. (Olympic preview). p. 84.
4. Johnson, William Oscar (February 25, 1980). "Austria storms the hill". Sports Illustrated. p. 22.
5. "Moser-Proell, Mueller end waits successfully". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. February 18, 1980. p. 5B.
6. "1979 World Cup standings". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
7. "1978 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.