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| Event type

Downhill, Men

Date10 February 2002 — 10:00
StatusOlympic
LocationSnowbasin Ski Resort, Huntsville, Utah (Grizzly)
Participants54 from 21 countries
Course SetterHelmuth SchmalzlIFR
DetailsGates: 38
Length: 2860 m
Start Altitude: 2831 m
Vertical Drop: 883 m

In keeping with tradition this was the first Alpine event of the 2002 Winter Olympics, held over the Grizzly Run at the Snowbasin Ski Area. The best downhiller since the Nagano Olympics had been Hermann Maier who won the 2000-2001 World Cup and the 1999 World Championships. But in August 2001, he was in a very serious motorcycle accident and doctors feared that they might have to amputate his leg. Able to save the leg with major reconstructive surgery, his ski career thought to be over, Maier would return to the World Cup circuit in January 2003. In his absence the best downhiller in 2001-02 was his teammate, Stephan Eberharter, who was leading the World Cup after winning five of eight races prior to the Winter Olympics. Eberharter went off as the ninth starter and took the lead with a time of 1:39.41. The next skier was another Austrian, Fritz Strobl, who was second in the 2001-02 World Cup standings. Strobl edged ahead of Eberharter with his 1:39.13. The biggest remaining challengers were the Norwegians, Lasse Kjus and Kjetil André Aamodt, but they could not better Strobl, who won the gold medal. Kjus did move ahead of Eberharter to take silver, while Aamodt placed fourth.

PosNumberCompetitorNOCTime
110Fritz StroblAUT1:39.13Gold
213Lasse KjusNOR1:39.35Silver
39Stephan EberharterAUT1:39.41Bronze
412Kjetil André AamodtNOR1:39.78
519Claude CrétierFRA1:39.96
67Christian GreberAUT1:40.00
73Fredrik NybergSWE1:40.30
815Ambrosi HoffmannSUI1:40.31
931Marco SullivanUSA1:40.37
102Sébastien Fournier-BidozFRA1:40.39
1118Pierre-Emmanuel DalcinFRA1:40.58
=1223Bjarne SolbakkenNOR1:40.74
=125Antoine DénériazFRA1:40.74
1414Didier CucheSUI1:40.76
1511Franco CavegnSUI1:40.81
1617Daron RahlvesUSA1:40.84
1721Roland FischnallerITA1:40.85
1828Patrik JärbynSWE1:41.05
194Alessandro FattoriITA1:41.24
2022Christoph GruberAUT1:41.25
2129Didier DéfagoSUI1:41.27
226Kurt SulzenbacherITA1:41.56
2316Peter PenSLO1:41.66
2427Ed PodivinskyCAN1:41.69
2520Kenneth SivertsenNOR1:41.70
2632Jürgen HaslerLIE1:41.76
2734Jake FialaUSA1:41.84
2841Andrej JermanSLO1:41.85
=2925Marco BüchelLIE1:41.86
=291Scott MacartneyUSA1:41.86
3126Gregor ŠparovecSLO1:41.88
3224Darin McBeathCAN1:42.15
3336Jernej KoblarSLO1:42.31
3430Max RaufferGER1:42.52
358Kristian GhedinaITA1:42.54
3646Maksim KedrinRUS1:43.04
3739AJ BearAUS1:43.19
3835Dave AndersonCAN1:43.20
3950Ondřej BankCZE1:43.33
4042Borek ZakouřilCZE1:43.63
4140Andrey FilichkinRUS1:43.73
4243Yasuyuki TakishitaJPN1:43.75
4337Pavel ShestakovRUS1:44.35
4448Sergey KomarovRUS1:45.25
4538Craig BranchAUS1:45.34
4644Jan HolickýCZE1:45.49
4754Ivan HeimschildSVK1:46.36
4847Maui GaymeCHI1:47.63
4952Mykola SkriabinUKR1:47.65
5045Mikael GaymeCHI1:48.37
5155Alex HeathRSA1:48.84
5251Nicolás ArselARG1:49.75
5353Patrick-Paul Schwarzacher-JoyceIRL1:54.42
DQ33Cristian Simari BirknerARG1
DNS49Ross GreenGBR