Downhill, Women1

The two favorites were Maria Walliser (SUI), 1986 downhill World Cup champion, and overall champion in 1986-87, and her teammate, the defending champion, Michela Figini, who had won the 1987 downhill World Cup and was leading in the 1987-88 season. The event was delayed one day because of weather problems. Walliser went off fourth and took the lead with a run of 1:26.89. This was soon passed by Canada’s Karen Percy, who would eventually win the bronze medal. The eighth starter was German Marina Kiehl, who was a super-G specialist who had six World Cup race wins in that discipline, but none in the downhill. She went for broke, almost crashing twice on her wild run, but pulled into a lead she would not relinquish, earning in a surprising gold medal. Figini was off after Kiehl but skied poorly and placed only ninth.