Downhill, Women1

After Annemarie Moser-Pröll had retired in 1980, and Marie-Theres Nadig followed her in 1982, no woman had dominated downhill skiing, leaving the 1984 Olympic downhill with no clear favorite. Switzerland’s Maria Walliser was having the best year and would win the 1984 World Cup downhill title. She had a young teammate, Michela Figini, who was only 17, but had already moved up into the seeds for the Olympics.

The event was affected by the weather as the men’s downhill had been in 1984, and was delayed five days because of snow and fog. Off fifth, Figini posted a time of 1:13.36, and watched as the other top skiers came down. Walliser was 10th down the mountain but narrowly missed out, falling 0.05 seconds behind Figini. They would win the gold and silver medals, with Czechoslovakia’s Olga Charvátová placing third, the first Alpine skiing medal won by an Eastern European since the slalom bronze medal won by Soviet Yevgeniya Sidorova in 1956.