The women's downhill competition of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics was held at Whistler Creekside on Wednesday, February 17.
The women's downhill course runs on the top part of Wildcard, then the bottom of Jimmy's Joker, then finishes out of the valley on Lower Franz's Run. Finally the course merges with the Dave Murray Downhill at the Grandstand finish.
The course was labeled as extremely difficult for skiers and most training runs were cancelled due to weather conditions. This resulted in several accidents during the competition. The worst accident involved Swedish skier Anja Pärson, who lost balance on the last jump before the finish, which resulted in a flight and subsequent fall, but without serious health consequences.Reuters: Paerson soars in scary crash Earlier in the same place Swiss skier Dominique Gisin fell;The Canadian Press: Women's Olympic downhill course takes a bite out of competition Pärson returned the very next day to win the bronze in the super combined.
Lindsey Vonn won the gold medal, teammate Julia Mancuso took the silver, and Elisabeth Görgl was the bronze medalist. This marked the first gold medal for the United States in the women's downhill at the Olympics, and was the only gold medal before Breezy Johnson won the event in 2026. Görgl's mother Traudl Hecher was also a bronze medalist for Austria in this event in 1960 and 1964.
The Franz's Downhill course started at an elevation of above sea level with a vertical drop of and a length of . Vonn's winning time of 104.19 seconds yielded an average course speed of , with an average vertical descent rate of .
Results Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The race was started at 11:00 local time, (UTC −8). At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was , and the snow condition was compact. The temperature at the finish was .
Rank Bib Name Country Time Difference 16 Lindsey Vonn 1:44.19 — 10 Julia Mancuso 1:44.75 +0.56 5 Elisabeth Görgl 1:45.65 +1.46 14 Andrea Fischbacher 1:45.68 +1.49 18 Fabienne Suter 1:46.17 +1.98 6 Britt Janyk 1:46.21 +2.02 15 Marie Marchand-Arvier 1:46.22 +2.03 22 Maria Riesch 1:46.26 +2.07 7 Lucia Recchia 1:46.50 +2.31 10 27 Gina Stechert 1:46.93 +2.74 11 4 Stacey Cook 1:46.98 +2.79 12 12 Nadia Styger 1:47.22 +3.03 13 2 Chemmy Alcott 1:47.31 +3.12 14 28 Regina Mader 1:47.53 +3.34 15 3 Carolina Ruiz Castillo 1:47.62 +3.43 16 17 Emily Brydon 1:47.88 +3.69 17 8 Aurélie Revillet 1:47.92 +3.73 18 24 Tina Maze 1:47.94 +3.75 19 9 Nadja Kamer 1:48.14 +3.95 20 36 Maruša Ferk 1:48.24 +4.05 21 37 Shona Rubens 1:48.53 +4.34 22 26 Johanna Schnarf 1:48.77 +4.58 23 19 Ingrid Jacquemod 1:48.85 +4.66 24 32 Alexandra Coletti 1:48.92 +4.73 25 29 Anna Fenninger 1:49.95 +5.76 26 34 Elena Prosteva 1:50.07 +5.88 27 31 Šárka Záhrobská 1:50.68 +6.49 28 39 Mireia Gutiérrez 1:52.67 +8.68 29 42 María Belén Simari Birkner 1:53.62 +9.43 30 25 Jessica Lindell-Vikarby 1:53.76 +9.57 31 38 Macarena Simari Birkner 1:54.25 +10.06 32 40 Agnieszka Gasienica Daniel 1:55.10 +10.91 33 45 Maria Kirkova 1:56.80 +12.61 34 41 Noelle Barahona 1:57.47 +13.28 35 43 Anna Berecz 1:57.86 +13.67 36 44 Lyudmila Fedotova 2:01.58 +17.39 37 1 Klára Křížová 2:09.27 +25.08 33 Georgia Simmerling 11 Dominique Gisin 13 Daniela Merighetti 20 Marion Rolland 21 Anja Pärson 30 Elena Fanchini 35 Edith Miklos 23 Alice McKennis
References
External links 2010 Winter Olympics results: Ladies' Downhill, from https://web.archive.org/web/20091025194336/http://www.vancouver2010.com/; retrieved 2010-02-16. Ski Racing.com - Olympics: Vonn wins downhill gold, Mancuso silver - 2010-02-17 FIS Results