Alpine skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

Men's Downhill
at the XVII Olympic Winter Games
VenueKvitfjell
Date13 February
Competitors55 from 26 nations
Winning time1:45.75
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Tommy Moe  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Kjetil André Aamodt  Norway
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ed Podivinsky  Canada
← 1992
1998 →
Men's Downhill
LocationKvitfjell
Olympiabakken
Vertical   838 m (2,749 ft)
Top elevation1,020 m (3,346 ft)  
Base elevation   182 m (597 ft)

The Men's Downhill competition of the Lillehammer 1994 Olympics was held at Kvitfjell on Sunday, 13 February.[1][2]

The reigning world champion was Urs Lehmann and the reigning Olympic champion was Patrick Ortlieb; Franz Heinzer was the defending World Cup downhill champion and Marc Girardelli led the current season. [3][4]

Tommy Moe, an American of Norwegian ancestry, edged out Kjetil André Aamodt of Norway by 0.04 seconds to take the gold medal in the downhill.[5][6][7] Ed Podivinsky of Canada was the bronze medalist, just 0.12 seconds behind Moe. Ortlieb was fourth, Girardelli fifth, Alphand eighth, and Heinzer did not finish.

The defending champion was in the field for the first time since 1976, when 1972 champion Bernhard Russi won the silver medal. Ortlieb was just off the podium in 1994, which remains the second-best result by a defending champion. Prior to Russi, only two champions had been in the field to defend, but neither made the top ten: Henri Oreiller was 14th in 1952 and Egon Zimmermann finished 13th in 1968.

The Olympiabakken course started at an elevation of 1,020 m (3,346 ft) above sea level with a vertical drop of 838 m (2,749 ft) and a course length of 3.035 km (1.89 mi). Moe's winning time was 105.75 seconds, yielding an average course speed of 103.319 km/h (64.2 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 7.924 m/s (26.0 ft/s).

Results

The race was started at 11:00 local time, (UTC +1). At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was −15.0 °C (5 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was lower, at −16.0 °C (3 °F).[1]

Rank Bib Name Country Time Difference
1st place, gold medalist(s) 8 Tommy Moe  United States 1:45.75
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 Kjetil André Aamodt  Norway 1:45.79 +0.04
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 21 Ed Podivinsky  Canada 1:45.87 +0.12
4 10 Patrick Ortlieb  Austria 1:46.01 +0.26
5 1 Marc Girardelli  Luxembourg 1:46.09 +0.34
6 2 Hannes Trinkl  Austria 1:46.22 +0.47
33 Nicolas Burtin  France
8 13 Luc Alphand  France 1:46.25 +0.50
9 15 Atle Skårdal  Norway 1:46.29 +0.54
10 17 Jan Einar Thorsen  Norway 1:46.34 +0.59
11 26 Kyle Rasmussen  United States 1:46.35 +0.60
12 3 Peter Runggaldier  Italy 1:46.39 +0.64
13 4 Pietro Vitalini  Italy 1:46.48 +0.73
14 5 Daniel Mahrer  Switzerland 1:46.55 +0.80
15 11 Armin Assinger  Austria 1:46.68 +0.93
16 9 William Besse  Switzerland 1:46.76 +1.01
17 30 A J Kitt  United States 1:46.82 +1.07
18 19 Lasse Kjus  Norway 1:46.84 +1.09
19 14 Günther Mader  Austria 1:46.87 +1.12
20 12 Kristian Ghedina  Italy 1:46.99 +1.24
21 22 Luigi Colturi  Italy 1:47.05 +1.30
22 20 Christophe Plé  France 1:47.11 +1.36
23 24 Franco Cavegn  Switzerland 1:47.15 +1.40
24 23 Jean-Luc Crétier  France 1:47.27 +1.52
25 27 Hansjörg Tauscher  Germany 1:47.30 +1.55
26 35 Graham Bell  Great Britain 1:47.39 +1.64
27 29 Luke Sauder  Canada 1:47.45 +1.70
28 32 Martin Bell  Great Britain 1:47.49 +1.74
29 36 Jürgen Hasler  Liechtenstein 1:47.62 +1.87
30 38 Janne Leskinen  Finland 1:47.87 +2.12
31 28 Ralf Socher  Canada 1:47.93 +2.18
32 31 Fredrik Nyberg  Sweden 1:47.97 +2.22
33 41 Achim Vogt  Liechtenstein 1:47.98 +2.23
34 34 Patrik Järbyn  Sweden 1:48.05 +2.30
35 44 Miran Ravter  Slovenia 1:48.48 +2.73
36 18 Markus Wasmeier  Germany 1:48.53 +2.78
37 42 Andrey Filichkin  Russia 1:48.81 +3.06
38 37 Craig Thrasher  United States 1:48.91 +3.16
39 25 Markus Foser  Liechtenstein 1:48.93 +3.18
40 45 Marco Büchel  Liechtenstein 1:48.97 +3.22
41 40 Georges Mendes  Portugal 1:49.20 +3.45
42 39 Nils Linneberg  Chile 1:49.80 +4.05
43 49 Andrey Kolotvin  Kazakhstan 1:50.39 +4.64
44 47 Petar Dichev  Bulgaria 1:51.07 +5.32
45 51 Maríano Puricelli  Argentina 1:52.38 +6.63
46 46 Marcin Szafrański  Poland 1:52.59 +6.84
47 50 Zurab Dzhidzhishvili  Georgia 1:53.27 +7.52
48 53 Hubertus von Hohenlohe  Mexico 1:53.37 +7.62
49 48 Diego Margozzini  Chile 1:55.32 +9.57
50 55 Lothar Christian Munder  Brazil 1:56.48 +10.73
- 6 Cary Mullen  Canada DNF -
- 16 Franz Heinzer  Switzerland DNF -
- 43 Vasily Bezsmelnitsyn  Russia DQ -
- 52 Connor O'Brien  Estonia DNF -
- 54 Lamine Guèye  Senegal DNF -

References

  1. ^ a b "Lillehammer 1994 Official Report" (PDF). Lillehammer Olympiske Organisasjonskomité. LA84 Foundation. 1994. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  2. ^ "Alpine Skiing at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games: Men's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  3. ^ "1993 World Cup standings". FIS. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  4. ^ "1993 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  5. ^ Johnson, William Oscar (February 21, 1994). "The Son finally rises". Sports Illustrated. (cover story). p. 20.
  6. ^ Powers, Tom (February 14, 1994). "This Moe's no stooge on the slopes". Lewiston (ME) Sun-Journal. Knight-Ridder. p. 23.
  7. ^ Philips, Angus (February 14, 1994). "Unheralded Tommy Moe races to first U.S. medal". Washington Post. p. A1.

External links