Alpine skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill
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]
Men's downhill at the XIX Olympic Winter Games | |||||||||||||
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![]() Pictogram for alpine skiing | |||||||||||||
Venue | Snowbasin | ||||||||||||
Date | February 10 | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 55 from 22 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 1:39.13 | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Alpine skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics | ||
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Combined | men | women |
Downhill | men | women |
Giant slalom | men | women |
Slalom | men | women |
Super-G | men | women |
Men's Downhill | |
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Location | Snowbasin Grizzly Downhill |
Vertical | 883 m (2,897 ft) |
Top elevation | 2,831 m (9,288 ft) |
Base elevation | 1,948 m (6,391 ft) |
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 (26.6 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was lower, at −4.0 °C (24.8 °F).
Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Difference |
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10 | Fritz Strobl | ![]() |
1:39.13 | |
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13 | Lasse Kjus | ![]() |
1:39.35 | +0.22 |
![]() |
9 | Stephan Eberharter | ![]() |
1:39.41 | +0.28 |
4 | 12 | Kjetil André Aamodt | ![]() |
1:39.78 | +0.65 |
5 | 19 | Claude Crétier | ![]() |
1:39.96 | +0.83 |
6 | 7 | Christian Greber | ![]() |
1:40.00 | +0.87 |
7 | 3 | Fredrik Nyberg | ![]() |
1:40.30 | +1.17 |
8 | 15 | Ambrosi Hoffmann | ![]() |
1:40.31 | +1.18 |
9 | 31 | Marco Sullivan | ![]() |
1:40.37 | +1.24 |
10 | 2 | Sébastien Fournier-Bidoz | ![]() |
1:40.39 | +1.26 |
11 | 18 | Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin | ![]() |
1:40.58 | +1.45 |
12 | 23 | Bjarne Solbakken | ![]() |
1:40.74 | +1.61 |
5 | Antoine Dénériaz | ![]() | |||
14 | 14 | Didier Cuche | ![]() |
1:40.76 | +1.63 |
15 | 11 | Franco Cavegn | ![]() |
1:40.81 | +1.68 |
16 | 17 | Daron Rahlves | ![]() |
1:40.84 | +1.71 |
17 | 21 | Roland Fischnaller | ![]() |
1:40.85 | +1.72 |
18 | 28 | Patrik Järbyn | ![]() |
1:41.05 | +1.92 |
19 | 4 | Alessandro Fattori | ![]() |
1:41.24 | +2.11 |
20 | 22 | Christoph Gruber | ![]() |
1:41.25 | +2.12 |
21 | 29 | Didier Défago | ![]() |
1:41.27 | +2.14 |
22 | 6 | Kurt Sulzenbacher | ![]() |
1:41.56 | +2.43 |
23 | 16 | Peter Pen | ![]() |
1:41.66 | +2.53 |
24 | 27 | Ed Podivinsky | ![]() |
1:41.69 | +2.56 |
25 | 20 | Kenneth Sivertsen | ![]() |
1:41.70 | +2.57 |
26 | 32 | Jürgen Hasler | ![]() |
1:41.76 | +2.63 |
27 | 34 | Jakub Fiala | ![]() |
1:41.84 | +2.71 |
28 | 41 | Andrej Jerman | ![]() |
1:41.85 | +2.72 |
29 | 25 | Marco Büchel | ![]() |
1:41.86 | +2.73 |
1 | Scott Macartney | ![]() | |||
31 | 26 | Gregor Sparovec | ![]() |
1:41.88 | +2.75 |
32 | 24 | Darin McBeath | ![]() |
1:42.15 | +3.02 |
33 | 36 | Jernej Koblar | ![]() |
1:42.41 | +3.18 |
34 | 30 | Max Rauffer | ![]() |
1:42.52 | +3.39 |
35 | 8 | Kristian Ghedina | ![]() |
1:42.54 | +3.41 |
36 | 46 | Maksim Kedrin | ![]() |
1:43.04 | +3.91 |
37 | 39 | AJ Bear | ![]() |
1:43.19 | +4.06 |
38 | 35 | Dave Anderson | ![]() |
1:43.20 | +4.07 |
39 | 50 | Ondřej Bank | ![]() |
1:43.33 | +4.20 |
40 | 42 | Borek Zakouřil | ![]() |
1:43.63 | +4.50 |
41 | 40 | Andrey Filichkin | ![]() |
1:43.73 | +4.60 |
42 | 43 | Yasuyuki Takishita | ![]() |
1:43.75 | +4.62 |
43 | 37 | Pavel Chestakov | ![]() |
1:44.35 | +5.22 |
44 | 48 | Sergey Komarov | ![]() |
1:45.25 | +6.12 |
45 | 38 | Craig Branch | ![]() |
1:45.34 | +6.21 |
46 | 44 | Jan Holický | ![]() |
1:45.59 | +6.36 |
47 | 54 | Ivan Heimschild | ![]() |
1:46.36 | +7.23 |
48 | 47 | Maui Gayme | ![]() |
1:47.63 | +8.50 |
49 | 52 | Nikolay Skriabin | ![]() |
1:47.65 | +8.52 |
50 | 45 | Mikael Gayme | ![]() |
1:48.37 | +9.24 |
51 | 55 | Alexander Heath | ![]() |
1:48.84 | +9.71 |
52 | 51 | Nicolás Arsel | ![]() |
1:49.75 | +10.62 |
53 | 53 | Paul Schwarzacher-Joyce | ![]() |
1:54.42 | +15.29 |
49 | Ross Green | ![]() |
DNS | ||
33 | Cristian Javier Simari Birkner | ![]() |
DSQ |
References
- "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.
- Layden, Tim (February 18, 2002). "Grizzly Bear". Sports Illustrated. p. 46.
- "Strobl's downhill shock". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 11, 2002. p. C6.
- Pennington, Bill (February 11, 2002). "Austria's downhill dominance returns". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (New York Times). p. 1E.