|
Not held in other editions
| Event type

Giant Slalom, Men

Date 8 February 1998
StatusOlympic
LocationMt. Yakebitai, Shiga Kogen, Yamanouchi
Participants34 from 14 countries
FormatTwo runs, total time determined placement.
DetailsGates: 40 / 38
Length: 936 m
Start Altitude: 1960 m
Vertical Drop: 290 m

The first run was led by Canadian Jasey-Jay Anderson with a time of 59.31. Eight boarders bettered one minute, with Anderson’s teammate, Ross Rebagliati, in eighth at 59.87. Tied for second were Thomas Prugger (ITA) and Chris Klug (USA). The second run was marred by bad weather, with light snow and fog coming in, which caused the competition to be re-started for this run. When it was re-started Switzerland’s Ueli Kestenholz went off sixth and posted the fastest run of the round. Two boarders later, Rebagliati posted what would be the second fastest run in the second round, and moved into first place overall. He waited out the next seven boarders, and when Anderson struggled into 22nd place on the run, Rebagliati had the gold medal, with Prugger in second and Kestenholz third.

Or so it seemed. Three days later it was announced that Rebagliati would be stripped of his gold medal because he had tested positive for marijuana. This was immediately appealed by the Canadian Olympic Committee, and sent for a decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The ruling came down in Rebagliati’s favor, based on the fact that marijuana was considered a restricted substance, rather than a prohibited substance. The FIS explained that they had requested marijuana testing only for “fear related events” and not snowboarding. This was important, because snowboarders had somewhat of an alternative lifestyle, often with lots of partying, and marijuana was frequently present at the parties. Rebagliati explained that he had not recently been using, but had attended several parties at which there was a lot of marijuana use and he thought his positive was due to second-hand smoke. After the CAS ruling, Rebagliati was allowed to keep his gold medal.

Finishing in seventh place overall was Austrian Martin Freinademetz, who later had his Olympic Acceditation revoked. During a party at the Shiga Kogen Prince Hotel, he became quite drunk, and damaged a $4,000 switchboard. He offered to pay for the damage but the IOC was not amused.

PosNumberCompetitorNOCTimeRun #1Run #2
1Ross RebagliatiCAN2:03.9659.87 (8)1:04.09 (2)Gold1
2Thomas PruggerITA2:03.9859.38 (=2)1:04.60 (5)Silver
3Ueli KestenholzSUI2:04.081:00.20 (10)1:03.88 (1)Bronze
4Dieter KrassnigAUT2:04.331:00.11 (9)1:04.22 (3)
5Mathieu BozzettoFRA2:04.5759.83 (7)1:04.74 (6)
6Chris KlugUSA2:05.2559.38 (=2)1:05.87 (10)
7Martin FreinademetzAUT2:05.3459.58 (4)1:05.76 (9)
8Maxence IdesheimFRA2:05.521:00.75 (12)1:04.77 (7)
9Dieter HappAUT2:07.051:02.65 (16)1:04.40 (4)
10Thedo RemmelinkNED2:07.251:02.01 (15)1:05.24 (8)
11Willi TrakoflerITA2:07.301:01.42 (=13)1:05.88 (11)
12Christophe SéguraFRA2:08.8659.59 (5)1:09.27 (18)
13Elmar MessnerITA2:09.411:01.42 (=13)1:07.99 (15)
14Dieter MoherndlGER2:10.031:03.03 (19)1:07.00 (12)
15Mike KildevældDEN2:10.421:02.75 (17)1:07.67 (13)
16Jasey-Jay AndersonCAN2:11.3359.31 (1)1:12.02 (19)
17Mike JacobyUSA2:11.801:03.53 (=22)1:08.27 (16)
18Stephen CoppSWE2:11.891:04.14 (25)1:07.75 (14)
19Łukasz StarowiczPOL2:12.311:03.50 (21)1:08.81 (17)
20Karl FrenademezITA2:15.951:03.33 (20)1:12.62 (20)
21Mariano LópezARG2:31.311:12.20 (28)1:19.11 (21)
DNFNicolas ConteFRA59.69 (6)– (DNF)2
DNFSigi GrabnerAUT1:00.61 (11)– (DQ)
DNFRichard RichardssonSWE1:02.93 (18)– (DNF)
DNFBernd KroschewskiGER1:03.53 (=22)– (DQ)
DNFDarren ChalmersCAN1:04.09 (24)– (DQ)
DNFMarkos ChatzikyriakisGRE1:06.40 (26)– (DNF)
DNFZeke SteggallAUS1:08.10 (27)– (DQ)
DNFFadri MoscaSUI– (DQ)
DNFGilles JaquetSUI– (DQ)
DQAdam HostetterUSA– (DQ)
DQAndré GrütterSUI– (DQ)
DNFMark FawcettCAN– (DNF)
DNFStergios PapposGRE– (DNF)