Alpine skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

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
1st place, gold medalist(s) Fritz Strobl  Austria
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lasse Kjus  Norway
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Stephan Eberharter  Austria
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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)

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]

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.[1] 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 (27 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was lower, at −4.0 °C (25 °F).

Rank Bib Name Country Time Difference
1st place, gold medalist(s) 10 Fritz Strobl  Austria 1:39.13 —
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 13 Lasse Kjus  Norway 1:39.35 +0.22
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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. ^ a b 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.