Women's Downhill at the XIII Olympic Winter Games | |||||||||||||
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Venue | Whiteface Mountain | ||||||||||||
Date | February 17 | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 28 from 13 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 1:37.52 | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics | ||
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Downhill | men | women |
Giant slalom | men | women |
Slalom | men | women |
Women's Downhill | |
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Location | Whiteface Mountain |
Vertical | 700 m (2,297 ft) |
Top elevation | 1,181 m (3,875 ft) |
Base elevation | 481 m (1,578 ft) |
The Women's downhill competition of the Lake Placid 1980 Olympics was held at Whiteface Mountain on Sunday, February 17. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
The defending world champion was Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria, who was also the defending World Cup downhill champion, while Switzerland's Marie-Theres Nadig led the current season. [6] [7] Defending Olympic champion Rosi Mittermaier retired four years earlier.
Moser-Pröll won the gold, Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein took the silver, and Nadig was the bronze medalist. [3] [4] [5]
The course started at an elevation of 1,181 m (3,875 ft) above sea level with a vertical drop of 700 m (2,297 ft) and a length of 2.698 km (1.68 mi). Moser-Pröll's winning time was 97.52 seconds, yielding an average speed of 99.598 km/h (61.9 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 7.178 m/s (23.5 ft/s).
The race was started at 11:30 local time, (UTC −5). At the starting gate, the skies were partly cloudy, the temperature was −14 °C (7 °F), wind speed was 25–40 km/h (16–25 mph), and the snow condition was hard packed.
Downhill is a form of alpine skiing competition. Whereas the other alpine skiing events emphasize turning and technique, downhill emphasizes "the six components of technique, courage, speed, risk, physical condition and judgement", according to the FIS "International Ski Competition Rules (ICR)". Speeds of up to 130 km/h (81 mph) are common in international competition. Athletes must have an aerodynamically efficient tuck position to minimize drag and increase speed.
Annemarie Moser-Pröll is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria. Born in Kleinarl, Salzburg, she was the most successful female alpine ski racer during the 1970s, with an all-time women's record of six overall titles, including five consecutively. She had most success in downhill, giant slalom and combined races. In 1980, her last year as a competitor, she secured her third Olympic medal at Lake Placid and won five World Cup races. Her younger sister Cornelia Pröll is also a former alpine Olympian.
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