Alpine skiing at the 1988 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

Men's Downhill
at the XV Olympic Winter Games
Alpine skiing
VenueNakiska,
Kananaskis Village, Alberta, Canada
DateFebruary 15, 1988
Competitors51 from 18 nations
Winning time1:59.63
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Pirmin Zurbriggen  Switzerland
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Peter Müller  Switzerland
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Franck Piccard  France
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Alpine skiing at the
1988 Winter Olympics
Combinedmenwomen
Downhillmenwomen
Giant slalommenwomen
Slalommenwomen
Super-Gmenwomen
Men's Downhill
LocationNakiska
Vertical   874 m (2,867 ft)
Top elevation2,412 m (7,913 ft)  
Base elevation1,538 m (5,046 ft)

The Men's downhill competition of the Calgary 1988 Olympics was held at the newly-developed Nakiska on Mount Allan on Monday, February 15.[1][2]

The reigning world champion was Peter Müller, while all-around Pirmin Zurbriggen was the defending World Cup downhill champion, led the current season, and was a medal threat in all five alpine events.[3][4][5] Defending Olympic champion Bill Johnson did not make the U.S. Olympic team; this was the third of four consecutive Olympics without the defending champion in the field.

The race was postponed a day due to winds that gusted to 98 mph (158 km/h) at the exposed summit;[6] Zurbriggen took the gold and Müller the silver, a half-second behind.[7] More than a second behind the runner-up was bronze medalist Franck Piccard.[8] Leonhard Stock, the 1980 champion, was fourth, but nearly two seconds behind Zurbriggen.

The course started at an elevation of 2,412 m (7,913 ft) above sea level with a vertical drop of 874 m (2,867 ft) and a course length of 3.147 km (1.96 mi). Zurbriggen's winning time of 119.63 seconds yielded an average speed of 94.702 km/h (58.8 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 7.306 m/s (24.0 ft/s).

Results

The race was started at 11:30 local time, (UTC −7). At the starting gate, the skies were overcast, the temperature was −7 °C (19 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was 0 °C (32 °F).

Rank Bib Name Country Time Difference
1st place, gold medalist(s) 14 Pirmin Zurbriggen  Switzerland 1:59.63 —
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1 Peter Müller  Switzerland 2:00.14 +0.51
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 15 Franck Piccard  France 2:01.24 +1.61
4 12 Leonhard Stock  Austria 2:01.56 +1.93
5 21 Gerhard Pfaffenbichler  Austria 2:02.02 +2.39
6 9 Markus Wasmeier  West Germany 2:02.03 +2.40
7 10 Anton Steiner  Austria 2:02.19 +2.56
8 26 Martin Bell  Great Britain 2:02.49 +2.86
9 8 Marc Girardelli  Luxembourg 2:02.59 +2.96
10 13 Danilo Sbardellotto  Italy 2:02.69 +3.06
11 28 Shinya Chiba  Japan 2:03.16 +3.53
12 3 Daniel Mahrer  Switzerland 2:03.18 +3.55
13 25 Hannes Zehentner  West Germany 2:03.23 +3.60
14 35 Mike Carney  Canada 2:03.25 +3.62
15 16 Atle Skårdal  Norway 2:03.26 +3.63
16 7 Rob Boyd  Canada 2:03.27 +3.64
17 6 Franz Heinzer  Switzerland 2:03.36 +3.73
18 11 Felix Belczyk  Canada 2:03.59 +3.96
19 37 Günther Mader  Austria 2:03.96 +4.33
20 24 Hansjörg Tauscher  West Germany 2:04.31 +4.68
21 20 Peter Dürr  West Germany 2:04.32 +4.69
22 30 Steven Lee  Australia 2:04.46 +4.83
23 33 Graham Bell  Great Britain 2:04.56 +4.93
24 19 Jan Einar Thorsen  Norway 2:04.77 +5.14
25 2 Christophe Plé  France 2:04.78 +5.15
26 32 A J Kitt  United States 2:04.94 +5.31
27 18 Lars-Börje Eriksson  Sweden 2:05.02 +5.39
28 27 Jeff Olson  United States 2:05.09 +5.46
29 43 Peter Jurko  Czechoslovakia 2:05.32 +5.69
30 34 Niklas Henning  Sweden 2:05.52 +5.89
31 17 Igor Cigolla  Italy 2:05.85 +6.22
32 29 Doug Lewis  United States 2:06.25 +6.62
33 39 Adrian Bireš  Czechoslovakia 2:06.34 +6.71
34 36 Katsuhito Kumagai  Japan 2:07.17 +7.54
35 45 Finn Christian Jagge  Norway 2:07.64 +8.01
36 51 Silvio Wille  Liechtenstein 2:07.77 +8.14
37 37 Boris Duncan  Great Britain 2:07.88 +8.25
38 46 Gregor Hoop  Liechtenstein 2:08.50 +8.87
39 47 Robert Büchel  Liechtenstein 2:08.66 +9.03
40 44 Niklas Lindqvist  Sweden 2:09.41 +9.78
41 40 Nils Linneberg  Chile 2:09.83 +10.20
42 41 Dieter Linneberg  Chile 2:11.16 +11.53
43 49 Hubertus von Hohenlohe  Mexico 2:12.58 +12.95
44 48 Jorge Birkner  Argentina 2:14.20 +14.57
45 50 Javier Rivara  Argentina 2:16.79 +17.16
- 42 Peter Forras  Australia DNF -
- 31 Bill Hudson  United States DNF -
- 4 Luc Alphand  France DNF -
- 23 Michael Mair  Italy DNF -
- 22 Philippe Verneret  France DQ -
- 5 Brian Stemmle  Canada DQ -
Source:[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Calgary 1988 Official Report" (PDF). XV Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. 1988. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  2. ^ "Alpine Skiing at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games: Men's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  3. ^ Johnson, William Oscar (January 27, 1988). "The Swiss golden boy". Sports Illustrated. p. 46.
  4. ^ "1987 World Cup standings". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  5. ^ "1987 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  6. ^ "Downhill blown out". Nashua Telegraph. (New Hampshire). Associated Press. February 15, 1988. p. 15.
  7. ^ Lochner, Bob (February 16, 1988). "Zurbriggen snatches downhill gold". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (Los Angeles Times). p. 3D.
  8. ^ "Zurbriggen not worrying about gold". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. February 16, 1988. p. 18.