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 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Kvitfjell | ||||||||||||
| Date | 13 February | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 55 from 26 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 1:45.75 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Men's Downhill | |
|---|---|
| Location | Kvitfjell Olympiabakken |
| Vertical | 838 m (2,749 ft) |
| Top elevation | 1,020 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 edit
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]
References edit
- ^ a b "Lillehammer 1994 Official Report" (PDF). Lillehammer Olympiske Organisasjonskomité. LA84 Foundation. 1994. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "1993 World Cup standings". FIS. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
- ^ "1993 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
- ^ Johnson, William Oscar (February 21, 1994). "The Son finally rises". Sports Illustrated. p. 20.
{{cite magazine}}: Unknown parameter|agency=ignored (help) - ^ Powers, Tom (February 14, 1994). "This Moe's no stooge on the slopes". Lewiston (ME) Sun-Journal. Knight-Ridder. p. 23.
- ^ Philips, Angus (February 14, 1994). "Unheralded Tommy Moe races to first U.S. medal". Washington Post. p. A1.