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

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

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 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

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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
  8 Tommy Moe   United States 1:45.75
  7 Kjetil André Aamodt   Norway 1:45.79 +0.04
  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

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  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. p. 20 – via (cover story).
  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.
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