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
VenueSnowbasin
DateFebruary 10
Competitors55 from 22 nations
Winning time1:39.13
Medalists
Fritz Strobl  Austria
Lasse Kjus  Norway
Stephan Eberharter  Austria
Alpine skiing at the
2002 Winter Olympics
Combinedmenwomen
Downhillmenwomen
Giant slalommenwomen
Slalommenwomen
Super-Gmenwomen
Men's Downhill
LocationSnowbasin
Grizzly Downhill
Vertical   883 m (2,897 ft)
Top elevation2,831 m (9,288 ft)  
Base elevation1,948 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).

RankBibNameCountryTimeDifference
10 Fritz Strobl  Austria 1:39.13
13 Lasse Kjus  Norway 1:39.35 +0.22
9 Stephan Eberharter  Austria 1:39.41 +0.28
4 12 Kjetil André Aamodt  Norway 1:39.78 +0.65
5 19 Claude Crétier  France 1:39.96 +0.83
6 7 Christian Greber  Austria 1:40.00 +0.87
7 3 Fredrik Nyberg  Sweden 1:40.30 +1.17
8 15 Ambrosi Hoffmann  Switzerland 1:40.31 +1.18
9 31 Marco Sullivan  United States 1:40.37 +1.24
10 2 Sébastien Fournier-Bidoz  France 1:40.39 +1.26
11 18 Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin  France 1:40.58 +1.45
12 23 Bjarne Solbakken  Norway 1:40.74 +1.61
5 Antoine Dénériaz  France
14 14 Didier Cuche  Switzerland 1:40.76 +1.63
15 11 Franco Cavegn  Switzerland 1:40.81 +1.68
16 17 Daron Rahlves  United States 1:40.84 +1.71
17 21 Roland Fischnaller  Italy 1:40.85 +1.72
18 28 Patrik Järbyn  Sweden 1:41.05 +1.92
19 4 Alessandro Fattori  Italy 1:41.24 +2.11
20 22 Christoph Gruber  Austria 1:41.25 +2.12
21 29 Didier Défago  Switzerland 1:41.27 +2.14
22 6 Kurt Sulzenbacher  Italy 1:41.56 +2.43
23 16 Peter Pen  Slovenia 1:41.66 +2.53
24 27 Ed Podivinsky  Canada 1:41.69 +2.56
25 20 Kenneth Sivertsen  Norway 1:41.70 +2.57
26 32 Jürgen Hasler  Liechtenstein 1:41.76 +2.63
27 34 Jakub Fiala  United States 1:41.84 +2.71
28 41 Andrej Jerman  Slovenia 1:41.85 +2.72
29 25 Marco Büchel  Liechtenstein 1:41.86 +2.73
1 Scott Macartney  United States
31 26 Gregor Sparovec  Slovenia 1:41.88 +2.75
32 24 Darin McBeath  Canada 1:42.15 +3.02
33 36 Jernej Koblar  Slovenia 1:42.41 +3.18
34 30 Max Rauffer  Germany 1:42.52 +3.39
35 8 Kristian Ghedina  Italy 1:42.54 +3.41
36 46 Maksim Kedrin  Russia 1:43.04 +3.91
37 39 AJ Bear  Australia 1:43.19 +4.06
38 35 Dave Anderson  Canada 1:43.20 +4.07
39 50 Ondřej Bank  Czech Republic 1:43.33 +4.20
40 42 Borek Zakouřil  Czech Republic 1:43.63 +4.50
41 40 Andrey Filichkin  Russia 1:43.73 +4.60
42 43 Yasuyuki Takishita  Japan 1:43.75 +4.62
43 37 Pavel Chestakov  Russia 1:44.35 +5.22
44 48 Sergey Komarov  Russia 1:45.25 +6.12
45 38 Craig Branch  Australia 1:45.34 +6.21
46 44 Jan Holický  Czech Republic 1:45.59 +6.36
47 54 Ivan Heimschild  Slovakia 1:46.36 +7.23
48 47 Maui Gayme  Chile 1:47.63 +8.50
49 52 Nikolay Skriabin  Ukraine 1:47.65 +8.52
50 45 Mikael Gayme  Chile 1:48.37 +9.24
51 55 Alexander Heath  South Africa 1:48.84 +9.71
52 51 Nicolás Arsel  Argentina 1:49.75 +10.62
53 53 Paul Schwarzacher-Joyce  Ireland 1:54.42 +15.29
49 Ross Green  Great Britain DNS
33 Cristian Javier Simari Birkner  Argentina DSQ

References
  1. "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.
  2. Layden, Tim (February 18, 2002). "Grizzly Bear". Sports Illustrated. p. 46.
  3. "Strobl's downhill shock". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 11, 2002. p. C6.
  4. Pennington, Bill (February 11, 2002). "Austria's downhill dominance returns". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (New York Times). p. 1E.
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