Alpine skiing at the 1976 Winter Olympics – Women's downhill

Women's Downhill at the XII Olympic Winter Games
Alpine skiing
Venue	Axamer Lizum
Date	February 8
Competitors	38 from 15 nations
Winning time	1:46.16
Medalists
Rosi Mittermaier   West Germany Brigitte Totschnig   Austria Cindy Nelson   United States
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Women's Downhill
Location	Axamer Lizum
Vertical	700 m (2,297 ft)
Top elevation	2,310 m (7,579 ft)
Base elevation	1,610 m (5,282 ft)

The Women's downhill competition of the Innsbruck 1976 Olympics was held at Axamer Lizum on Sunday, 8 February. ^{[1] [2]}

The defending world champion was Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria, who was also the defending World Cup downhill champion, but spent this year away from racing to care for her ailing father; Switzerland's Bernadette Zurbriggen led the current season. ^{[3] [4]} Defending Olympic champion Marie-Theres Nadig was entered in the race but did not start.

Rosi Mittermaier won the gold medal, Brigitte Totschnig of Austria took the silver, and Cindy Nelson of the United States was the bronze medalist. ^{[5] [6]} Mittermaier also won the slalom and was the runner-up in the giant slalom.

The starting gate was at an elevation of 2,310 m (7,579 ft) above sea level, with a vertical drop of 700 m (2,297 ft). ^[1] The course length was 2.515 km (1.56 mi) and Mittermaier's winning run of 106.16 seconds resulted in an average speed of 85.286 km/h (53.0 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 6.594 m/s (21.6 ft/s).

Results

Sunday, February 8, 1976

Rank	Bib	Name	Country	Time	Difference
	9	Rosi Mittermaier	West Germany	1:46.16	—
	7	Brigitte Totschnig	Austria	1:46.68	+0.52
	10	Cindy Nelson	United States	1:47.50	+1.34
4	13	Nicola Spieß	Austria	1:47.71	+1.55
5	5	Danièle Debernard	France	1:48.48	+2.32
6	4	Jacqueline Rouvier	France	1:48.58	+2.42
7	2	Bernadette Zurbriggen	Switzerland	1:48.62	+2.46
8	3	Marlies Oberholzer	Switzerland	1:48.68	+2.52
9	14	Monika Kaserer	Austria	1:48.81	+2.65
10	8	Irene Epple	West Germany	1:48.91	+2.75
11	15	Hanni Wenzel	Liechtenstein	1:49.17	+3.01
12	1	Irmgard Lukasser	Austria	1:49.18	+3.02
13	11	Evi Mittermaier	West Germany	1:49.23	+3.07
14	26	Susan Patterson	United States	1:49.37	+3.21
15	19	Paola Hofer	Italy	1:49.60	+3.44
16	20	Laurie Kreiner	Canada	1:49.97	+3.81
17	18	Michèle Jacot	France	1:49.98	+3.82
18	6	Doris de Agostini	Switzerland	1:50.46	+4.30
19	16	Kathy Kreiner	Canada	1:50.48	+4.32
20	30	Wanda Bieler	Italy	1:50.58	+4.42
21	23	Fabienne Serrat	France	1:51.34	+5.18
22	27	Betsy Clifford	Canada	1:51.40	+5.24
23	25	Maria Epple	West Germany	1:51.41	+5.25
24	24	Ursula Konzett	Liechtenstein	1:51.53	+5.37
25	21	Jolanda Plank	Italy	1:52.50	+6.34
26	29	Leslie Smith	United States	1:52.98	+6.82
27	28	Torill Fjeldstad	Norway	1:52.99	+6.83
28	36	Alla Askarova	Soviet Union	1:53.19	+7.03
29	17	Valentina Iliffe	Great Britain	1:53.31	+7.15
30	22	Riitta Ollikka	Finland	1:53.85	+7.69
31	34	Sally Rodd	Australia	1:54.82	+8.66
32	33	Dagmar Kuzmanová	Czechoslovakia	1:54.81	+8.65
33	32	Jana Šoltýsová	Czechoslovakia	1:55.02	+8.86
34	35	Fiona Easdale	Great Britain	1:57.66	+11.50
35	37	Hazel Hutcheon	Great Britain	1:58.33	+12.17
36	38	Joanne Henke	Australia	1:59.59	+13.43
37	31	Theresa Wallis	Great Britain	1:59.77	+13.61
38	40	Sue Gibson	New Zealand	2:03.49	+17.33
	12	Marie-Theres Nadig	Switzerland	DNS
	39	Janet Wells	New Zealand	DNS

Source: ^[1]

References

1. "Final Report - XII. Olympische Winterspiele Innsbruck 1976". Organizing Committee for the XIIth Winter Olympic Games 1976. LA84 Foundation. 1976. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
2. "Alpine Skiing at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Games: Women's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
3. "1975 World Cup standings". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
4. "1974 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
5. "Nelson claims bronze in downhill". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 9, 1976. p. 13.
6. Johnson, William Oscar (February 16, 1976). "On came the heroes". Sports Illustrated. p. 10.