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

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Men's downhill
at the XIX Olympic Winter Games
Alpine skiing pictogram.svg
Pictogram for alpine skiing
Venue Snowbasin
DateFebruary 10
Competitors55 from 22 nations
Winning time1:39.13
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Fritz Strobl Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Silver medal icon.svg Lasse Kjus Flag of Norway.svg  Norway
Bronze medal icon.svg Stephan Eberharter Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
  1998
2006  
Men's Downhill
Location Snowbasin
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. 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).

RankBibNameCountryTimeDifference
Gold medal icon.svg10 Fritz Strobl Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1:39.13
Silver medal icon.svg13 Lasse Kjus Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:39.35+0.22
Bronze medal icon.svg9 Stephan Eberharter Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1:39.41+0.28
412 Kjetil André Aamodt Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:39.78+0.65
519 Claude Crétier Flag of France.svg  France 1:39.96+0.83
67 Christian Greber Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1:40.00+0.87
73 Fredrik Nyberg Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:40.30+1.17
815 Ambrosi Hoffmann Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 1:40.31+1.18
931 Marco Sullivan Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:40.37+1.24
102 Sébastien Fournier-Bidoz Flag of France.svg  France 1:40.39+1.26
1118 Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin Flag of France.svg  France 1:40.58+1.45
1223 Bjarne Solbakken Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:40.74+1.61
5 Antoine Dénériaz Flag of France.svg  France
1414 Didier Cuche Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 1:40.76+1.63
1511 Franco Cavegn Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 1:40.81+1.68
1617 Daron Rahlves Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:40.84+1.71
1721 Roland Fischnaller Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:40.85+1.72
1828 Patrik Järbyn Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:41.05+1.92
194 Alessandro Fattori Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:41.24+2.11
2022 Christoph Gruber Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1:41.25+2.12
2129 Didier Défago Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 1:41.27+2.14
226 Kurt Sulzenbacher Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:41.56+2.43
2316 Peter Pen Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 1:41.66+2.53
2427 Ed Podivinsky Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:41.69+2.56
2520 Kenneth Sivertsen Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:41.70+2.57
2632 Jürgen Hasler Flag of Liechtenstein.svg  Liechtenstein 1:41.76+2.63
2734 Jakub Fiala Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:41.84+2.71
2841 Andrej Jerman Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 1:41.85+2.72
2925 Marco Büchel Flag of Liechtenstein.svg  Liechtenstein 1:41.86+2.73
1 Scott Macartney Flag of the United States.svg  United States
3126 Gregor Sparovec Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 1:41.88+2.75
3224 Darin McBeath Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:42.15+3.02
3336 Jernej Koblar Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 1:42.41+3.18
3430 Max Rauffer Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:42.52+3.39
358 Kristian Ghedina Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:42.54+3.41
3646 Maksim Kedrin Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:43.04+3.91
3739 AJ Bear Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:43.19+4.06
3835 Dave Anderson Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:43.20+4.07
3950 Ondřej Bank Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 1:43.33+4.20
4042 Borek Zakouřil Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 1:43.63+4.50
4140 Andrey Filichkin Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:43.73+4.60
4243 Yasuyuki Takishita Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1:43.75+4.62
4337 Pavel Chestakov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:44.35+5.22
4448 Sergey Komarov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:45.25+6.12
4538 Craig Branch Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:45.34+6.21
4644 Jan Holický Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 1:45.59+6.36
4754 Ivan Heimschild Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 1:46.36+7.23
4847 Maui Gayme Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 1:47.63+8.50
4952 Nikolay Skriabin Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 1:47.65+8.52
5045 Mikael Gayme Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 1:48.37+9.24
5155 Alexander Heath Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 1:48.84+9.71
5251 Nicolás Arsel Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 1:49.75+10.62
5353 Paul Schwarzacher-Joyce Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 1:54.42+15.29
49 Ross Green Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain DNS
33 Cristian Javier Simari Birkner Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina DSQ

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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. 1 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.