Olympedia – Downhill, Men

Downhill, Men

Date	9 February 1992 — 12:15
Status	Olympic
Location	Val d'Isère
Participants	55 from 24 countries
Course Setter	Bernhard Russi	IFR
Details	Gates: 42 Length: 3048 m Start Altitude: 2809 m Vertical Drop: 973 m

Date

9 February 1992 — 12:15

Status

Olympic

Location

Val d'Isère

Participants

55 from 24 countries

Course Setter

Bernhard Russi

IFR

Details

Gates: 42
Length: 3048 m
Start Altitude: 2809 m
Vertical Drop: 973 m

Switzerland’s Franz Heinzer was favored, having won the 1991 World Championship and World Cup, and leading the 1991-92 World Cup race coming into Albertville. There was some criticism of the course on the Face Bellevarde, which was designed by Bernhard Russi, and was considered more like a super-G than a downhill. There were rumors that the course was set up to favor French super-G specialist Franck Piccard. One of the biggest critics was the Austrian Patrick Ortlieb, but as the first skier off, he posted 1:50.37, a time which would eventually win him the gold medal, with Piccard placing second. Austrian Günther Mader was third in 1:50.47 and the 1/10th second difference between 1st and 3rd made this the closest of all Olympic downhills for the podium positions. Heinzer would place sixth.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	1	Patrick Ortlieb	AUT	1:50.37	Gold
2	2	Franck Piccard	FRA	1:50.42	Silver
3	14	Günther Mader	AUT	1:50.47	Bronze
4	23	Markus Wasmeier	GER	1:50.62
5	6	Jan Einar Thorsen	NOR	1:50.79
6	12	Franz Heinzer	SUI	1:51.39
7	3	Hansjörg Tauscher	GER	1:51.49
8	5	Lasse Arnesen	NOR	1:51.63
9	15	A J Kitt	USA	1:51.98
10	22	Franco Colturi	ITA	1:52.07
11	13	Kristian Ghedina	ITA	1:52.28
12	16	Luc Alphand	FRA	1:52.34
13	4	Daniel Mahrer	SUI	1:52.39
14	30	Gianfranco Martin	ITA	1:52.48
15	7	Xavier Gigandet	SUI	1:52.50
16	28	Kyle Rasmussen	USA	1:52.71
17	10	Helmut Höflehner	AUT	1:53.10
18	26	Felix Belczyk	CAN	1:53.37
19	11	Berni Huber	GER	1:53.38
20	21	Tommy Moe	USA	1:53.40
21	34	Vitaly Andreyev	EUN	1:53.52
22	33	Aleksey Maslov	EUN	1:53.68
23	8	Brian Stemmle	CAN	1:53.77
24	32	Konstantin Chistyakov	EUN	1:53.93
25	39	Tsuyoshi Tomii	JPN	1:54.23
26	37	Kjetil André Aamodt	NOR	1:54.24
27	25	Denis Rey	FRA	1:54.28
28	24	Reggie Crist	USA	1:54.54
29	38	Martin Bell	GBR	1:54.83
30	45	Ricardo Campo	ESP	1:54.89
31	19	Boris Duncan	GBR	1:54.95
32	40	Tom Stiansen	NOR	1:55.62
33	35	Graham Bell	GBR	1:55.82
34	41	Marián Bíreš	TCH	1:56.21
35	42	Paulo Oppliger	CHI	1:56.30
36	36	Steven Lee	AUS	1:58.55
37	50	Petar Dichev	BUL	2:01.21
38	48	Hubertus von Hohenlohe	MEX	2:02.98
39	54	Choi Yong-Hee	KOR	2:04.85
40	47	Alexis Racloz	CHI	2:05.61
41	46	Lothar Christian Munder	BRA	2:07.34
42	55	Emilian Focșeneanu	ROU	2:08.81
43	51	Péter Kristály	HUN	2:09.88
44	56	Aurel Foiciuc	ROU	2:09.94
45	52	Lamine Guèye	SEN	2:12.84
DNF	9	Leonhard Stock	AUT	–
DNF	17	Danilo Sbardelotto	ITA	–
DNF	18	Marc Girardelli	LUX	–
DNF	20	Adrien Duvillard	FRA	–
DNF	27	Paul Accola	SUI	–
DNF	31	Roman Torn	CAN	–
DNF	43	Markus Foser	LIE	–
DNF	44	Nils Linneberg	CHI	–
DNF	53	Alphonse Gomis	SEN	–
DQ	29	Cary Mullen	CAN	–
DNS	49	Pierre Kőszáli	HUN	–