Alpine skiing at the 1988 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

The Men's downhill competition of the Calgary 1988 Olympics was held at the newly-developed Nakiska on Mount Allan on Monday, February 15.[1][2]

Men's Downhill
at the XV Olympic Winter Games
VenueNakiska,
Kananaskis Village, Alberta, Canada
DateFebruary 15, 1988
Competitors51 from 18 nations
Winning time1:59.63
Medalists
Pirmin Zurbriggen  Switzerland
Peter Müller  Switzerland
Franck Piccard  France
Men's Downhill
LocationNakiska
Vertical   874 m (2,867 ft)
Top elevation2,412 m (7,913 ft)  
Base elevation1,538 m (5,046 ft)

The reigning world champion was Peter Müller, while all-around Pirmin Zurbriggen was the defending World Cup downhill champion, led the current season, and was a medal threat in all five alpine events.[3][4][5] Defending Olympic champion Bill Johnson did not make the U.S. Olympic team; this was the third of four consecutive Olympics without the defending champion in the field.

The race was postponed a day due to winds that gusted to 98 mph (158 km/h) at the exposed summit;[6] Zurbriggen took the gold and Müller the silver, a half-second behind.[7] More than a second behind the runner-up was bronze medalist Franck Piccard.[8] Leonhard Stock, the 1980 champion, was fourth, but nearly two seconds behind Zurbriggen.

The course started at an elevation of 2,412 m (7,913 ft) above sea level with a vertical drop of 874 m (2,867 ft) and a course length of 3.147 km (1.96 mi). Zurbriggen's winning time of 119.63 seconds yielded an average speed of 94.702 km/h (58.8 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 7.306 m/s (24.0 ft/s).

Results

The race was started at 11:30 local time, (UTC −7). At the starting gate, the skies were overcast, the temperature was −7 °C (19 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was 0 °C (32 °F).

Rank BibNameCountryTimeDifference
14Pirmin Zurbriggen Switzerland1:59.63
1Peter Müller Switzerland2:00.14+0.51
15Franck Piccard France2:01.24+1.61
4 12Leonhard Stock Austria2:01.56+1.93
5 21Gerhard Pfaffenbichler Austria2:02.02+2.39
6 9Markus Wasmeier West Germany2:02.03+2.40
7 10Anton Steiner Austria2:02.19+2.56
8 26Martin Bell Great Britain2:02.49+2.86
9 8Marc Girardelli Luxembourg2:02.59+2.96
10 13Danilo Sbardellotto Italy2:02.69+3.06
11 28Shinya Chiba Japan2:03.16+3.53
12 3Daniel Mahrer Switzerland2:03.18+3.55
13 25Hannes Zehentner West Germany2:03.23+3.60
14 35Mike Carney Canada2:03.25+3.62
15 16Atle Skårdal Norway2:03.26+3.63
16 7Rob Boyd Canada2:03.27+3.64
17 6Franz Heinzer Switzerland2:03.36+3.73
18 11Felix Belczyk Canada2:03.59+3.96
19 37Günther Mader Austria2:03.96+4.33
20 24Hansjörg Tauscher West Germany2:04.31+4.68
21 20Peter Dürr West Germany2:04.32+4.69
22 30Steven Lee Australia2:04.46+4.83
23 33Graham Bell Great Britain2:04.56+4.93
24 19Jan Einar Thorsen Norway2:04.77+5.14
25 2Christophe Plé France2:04.78+5.15
26 32A J Kitt United States2:04.94+5.31
27 18Lars-Börje Eriksson Sweden2:05.02+5.39
28 27Jeff Olson United States2:05.09+5.46
29 43Peter Jurko Czechoslovakia2:05.32+5.69
30 34Niklas Henning Sweden2:05.52+5.89
31 17Igor Cigolla Italy2:05.85+6.22
32 29Doug Lewis United States2:06.25+6.62
33 39Adrian Bireš Czechoslovakia2:06.34+6.71
34 36Katsuhito Kumagai Japan2:07.17+7.54
35 45Finn Christian Jagge Norway2:07.64+8.01
36 51Silvio Wille Liechtenstein2:07.77+8.14
37 37Boris Duncan Great Britain2:07.88+8.25
38 46Gregor Hoop Liechtenstein2:08.50+8.87
39 47Robert Büchel Liechtenstein2:08.66+9.03
40 44Niklas Lindqvist Sweden2:09.41+9.78
41 40Nils Linneberg Chile2:09.83+10.20
42 41Dieter Linneberg Chile2:11.16+11.53
43 49Hubertus von Hohenlohe Mexico2:12.58+12.95
44 48Jorge Birkner Argentina2:14.20+14.57
45 50Javier Rivara Argentina2:16.79+17.16
- 42Peter Forras AustraliaDNF-
- 31Bill Hudson United StatesDNF-
- 4Luc Alphand FranceDNF-
- 23Michael Mair ItalyDNF-
- 22Philippe Verneret FranceDQ-
- 5Brian Stemmle CanadaDQ-
Source:[1]

References

  1. "Calgary 1988 Official Report" (PDF). XV Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. 1988. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  2. "Alpine Skiing at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games: Men's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  3. Johnson, William Oscar (January 27, 1988). "The Swiss golden boy". Sports Illustrated. p. 46.
  4. "1987 World Cup standings". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  5. "1987 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  6. "Downhill blown out". Nashua Telegraph. (New Hampshire). Associated Press. February 15, 1988. p. 15.
  7. Lochner, Bob (February 16, 1988). "Zurbriggen snatches downhill gold". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (Los Angeles Times). p. 3D.
  8. "Zurbriggen not worrying about gold". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. February 16, 1988. p. 18.
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