Alpine skiing at the 1998 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

The Men's Downhill competition of the Nagano 1998 Olympics was held at Hakuba on Friday, February 13.[1][2][3] Originally scheduled for Sunday, the race was postponed several times due to heavy snow, followed by rain and gusty winds.

Men's Downhill
at the XVIII Olympic Winter Games
VenueHakuba
DateFebruary 13
Competitors43 from 18 nations
Winning time1:50.11
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jean-Luc Crétier  France
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lasse Kjus  Norway
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Hannes Trinkl  Austria
← 1994
2002 →
Men's Downhill
LocationHakuba – Happo-One
Olympic Course I
Vertical   925 m (3,035 ft)
Top elevation1,765 m (5,791 ft)  
Base elevation   840 m (2,756 ft)

The reigning world champion was Bruno Kernen of Switzerland, while France's Luc Alphand was the reigning World Cup downhill champion,[4][5] but had since retired from competition. The defending Olympic champion was Tommy Moe of the United States.

France's Jean-Luc Crétier won the gold medal, Lasse Kjus of Norway took the silver, and the bronze medalist was Hannes Trinkl of Austria; Moe was twelfth and Kernan did not finish.[6] Nine of the first twenty failed to finish, including a crash by favorite Hermann Maier of Austria, which he walked away from.[6][7] Luca Cattaneo's injury caused a half-hour delay underneath the clear skies, as the temperature at the finish approached 15 °C (59 °F). Of the eight with bib numbers 13 through 20, only Moe completed the race;[1] in total, fifteen of the 43 racers did not finish.

It was the sole victory of Crétier's career; he had five World cup podiums, three of which were in the two months preceding the Olympics, at the notable venues of Beaver Creek, Wengen, and Kitzbühel. Entering the Olympics, he was fourth in the season's World Cup downhill standings.[6]

The course started at an elevation of 1,765 m (5,791 ft) above sea level with a vertical drop of 925 m (3,035 ft) and a course length of 3.289 km (2.04 mi). Crétier's winning time was 110.11 seconds, yielding an average course speed of 107.532 km/h (66.8 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 8.401 m/s (27.6 ft/s).

Results edit

The race was started at 11:00 local time, (UTC +9). At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was 2.3 °C (36 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish at 12.3 °C (54 °F).[2]

Rank Bib Name Country Time Behind
  3 Jean-Luc Crétier   France 1:50.11
  10 Lasse Kjus   Norway 1:50.51 +0.40
  8 Hannes Trinkl   Austria 1:50.63 +0.52
4 24 Jürg Grünenfelder   Switzerland 1:50.64 +0.53
5 25 Ed Podivinsky   Canada 1:50.71 +0.60
6 7 Kristian Ghedina   Italy 1:50.76 +0.65
7 5 Andreas Schifferer   Austria 1:50.77 +0.66
8 9 Didier Cuche   Switzerland 1:50.91 +0.80
9 26 Kyle Rasmussen   United States 1:51.09 +0.98
10 23 Patrik Järbyn   Sweden 1:51.22 +1.11
11 2 Fritz Strobl   Austria 1:51.34 +1.23
12 17 Tommy Moe   United States 1:51.43 +1.32
13 11 Kjetil André Aamodt   Norway 1:51.72 +1.61
14 1 Franco Cavegn   Switzerland 1:51.74 +1.63
15 30 Jason Rosener   United States 1:52.33 +2.22
16 12 Werner Perathoner   Italy 1:52.36 +2.25
17 21 Tsuyoshi Tomii   Japan 1:52.62 +2.51
18 33 Andrey Filichkin   Russia 1:52.65 +2.54
19 22 Kevin Wert   Canada 1:52.67 +2.56
20 31 Jernej Koblar   Slovenia 1:52.79 +2.68
21 36 Enis Bećirbegović   Bosnia and Herzegovina 1:53.47 +3.36
22 43 Andrzej Bachleda-Curuś   Poland 1:53.62 +3.51
23 35 Graham Bell   Great Britain 1:53.93 +3.82
24 38 Vasily Bezsmelnitsyn   Russia 1:54.27 +4.16
25 37 Linas Vaitkus   Lithuania 1:56.22 +6.11
26 39 Nils Linneberg   Chile 1:56.59 +6.48
27 42 Patrick-Paul Schwarzacher-Joyce   Ireland 1:58.71 +8.60
28 41 Rainer Grob   Chile 1:58.75 +8.64
4 Hermann Maier   Austria DNF
6 Nicolas Burtin   France DNF
13 Bruno Kernen   Switzerland DNF
14 Luca Cattaneo   Italy DNF
15 Peter Runggaldier   Italy DNF
16 Luke Sauder   Canada DNF
18 Aleš Brezavšček   Slovenia DNF
19 A J Kitt   United States DNF
20 Brian Stemmle   Canada DNF
27 Adrien Duvillard   France DNF
28 Peter Pen   Slovenia DNF
29 Jürgen Hasler   Liechtenstein DNF
32 Andrew Freshwater   Great Britain DNF
34 Yasuyuki Takishita   Japan DNF
40 Thomás Grob   Chile DNF
Source[2]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Gloster, Rob (February 13, 1998). "Cretier dominates the downhill". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 1C.
  2. ^ a b c "Nagano 1998 Official Report - Volume 3" (PDF). Nagano Olympics Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  3. ^ "Alpine Skiing at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games: Men's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  4. ^ "1997 World Cup standings". FIS. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  5. ^ "1997 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c "Crash course". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Knight-Ridder. February 13, 1998.
  7. ^ Layden, Tim (February 23, 1998). "Street fighting". Sports Illustrated. p. 40.

External links edit