Alpine skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill
The marquee event of alpine skiing was held on Sunday, February 10, at the Snowbasin ski area, east of Ogden under clear skies.[1][2]
| Men's downhill at the XIX Olympic Winter Games | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Pictogram for alpine skiing | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Snowbasin | ||||||||||||
| Date | February 10 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 55 from 22 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 1:39.13 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Alpine skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Combined | men | women |
| Downhill | men | women |
| Giant slalom | men | women |
| Slalom | men | women |
| Super-G | men | women |
| Men's Downhill | |
|---|---|
| Location | Snowbasin Grizzly Downhill |
| Vertical | 883 m (2,897 ft) |
| Top elevation | 2,831 m (9,288 ft) |
| Base elevation | 1,948 m (6,391 ft) |
Designed by 1972 gold medalist Bernhard Russi, the steep "Grizzly Downhill" course was just 1.777 miles (2.860 km) in length, and began at a lofty 9,288 feet (2,831 m) above sea level, with a vertical drop of 2,897 feet (883 m). The average gradient on the Grizzly Downhill was 30.87% (17.98°), exceeding the classic layouts of Kitzbühel (860 m vertical / 3312 m length = 25.97%, 15.05°) and Wengen (1025 m vertical / 4455 m length = 23.01%, 13.30°).
The top five finishers completed the course in less than a hundred seconds, making it the quickest descending Olympic downhill. The average speed of the medalists for the entire course exceeded 64 mph (103 km/h), rating it among the fastest courses in international competition.
Pre-race favorite Stephan Eberharter of Austria took the bronze medal, bested by compatriot Fritz Strobl and all-arounder Lasse Kjus of Norway.[2][3][4] Strobl's average speed was 64.538 mph (103.864 km/h), at an average vertical descent of 29.224 ft/s (8.907 m/s).
Results
The race was started at 10:00 local time, (UTC −7). At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was −3.0 °C (26.6 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was lower, at −4.0 °C (24.8 °F).
References
- "Alpine Skiing at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games: Men's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
- Layden, Tim (February 18, 2002). "Grizzly Bear". Sports Illustrated. p. 46.
- "Strobl's downhill shock". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 11, 2002. p. C6.
- Pennington, Bill (February 11, 2002). "Austria's downhill dominance returns". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (New York Times). p. 1E.
External links
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