The Men's Downhill competition of the Albertville 1992 Olympics was held at Val d'Isère on Sunday, 9 February.
The defending world champion was Franz Heinzer of Switzerland, who was also the defending World Cup downhill champion and led the current season. Defending Olympic champion Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland had retired from competition two years earlier; this was the fourth consecutive Olympics without the defending champion in the field.
The race was run on a new course on La face de Bellevarde, designed by 1972 champion Bernhard Russi. Austria's Patrick Ortlieb, who had yet to win a World Cup event, won the gold medal; Franck Piccard of France was only 0.05 seconds back to take the silver, and the bronze medalist was Günther Mader of Austria. Ortlieb was first racer on the course, and he became the fifth Austrian to win the event, in its twelfth edition. Heinzer was sixth, more than a second back.
The course started at an elevation of above sea level with a vertical drop of and a course length of . Ortlieb's winning time of 110.37 seconds yielded an average course speed of , with an average vertical descent rate of .
Results The race was started at 12:15 local time, (UTC +1). At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was , and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was lower, at . Rank Bib Name Country Time Difference 1 Patrick Ortlieb 1:50.37 — 23 Franck Piccard 1:50.42 +0.05 14 Günther Mader 1:50.47 +0.10 4 2 Markus Wasmeier 1:50.62 +0.25 5 6 Jan Einar Thorsen 1:50.79 +0.42 6 12 Franz Heinzer 1:51.39 +1.02 7 3 Hansjörg Tauscher 1:51.49 +1.12 8 5 Lasse Arnesen 1:51.63 +1.26 9 15 A J Kitt 1:51.98 +1.61 10 22 Franco Colturi 1:52.07 +1.70 11 13 Kristian Ghedina 1:52.28 +1.91 12 16 Luc Alphand 1:52.34 +1.97 13 4 Daniel Mahrer 1:52.39 +2.02 14 30 Gianfranco Martin 1:52.48 +2.11 15 7 Xavier Gigandet 1:52.50 +2.13 16 28 Kyle Rasmussen 1:52.71 +2.34 17 10 Helmut Höflehner 1:53.10 +2.73 18 26 Felix Belczyk 1:53.37 +3.00 19 11 Berni Huber 1:53.38 +3.01 20 21 Tommy Moe 1:53.40 +3.03 21 34 Vitaly Andreyev 1:53.52 +3.15 22 33 Aleksey Maslov 1:53.68 +3.31 23 8 Brian Stemmle 1:53.77 +3.40 24 32 Konstantin Chistyakov 1:53.93 +3.56 25 39 Tsuyoshi Tomii 1:54.23 +3.86 26 37 Kjetil André Aamodt 1:54.24 +3.87 27 25 Denis Rey 1:54.28 +3.91 28 24 Reggie Crist 1:54.54 +4.17 29 38 Martin Bell 1:54.83 +4.46 30 45 Ricardo Campo 1:54.89 +4.52 31 19 Boris Duncan 1:54.95 +4.58 32 40 Tom Stiansen 1:55.62 +5.25 33 35 Graham Bell 1:55.82 +5.45 34 41 Marián Bíreš 1:56.21 +5.84 35 42 Paulo Oppliger 1:56.30 +5.93 36 36 Steven Lee 1:58.55 +8.18 37 50 Petar Dichev 2:01.21 +10.84 38 48 Hubertus von Hohenlohe 2:02.98 +12.61 39 54 Choi Yong-hee 2:04.85 +14.48 40 47 Alexis Racloz 2:05.61 +15.24 41 46 Lothar Christian Munder 2:07.34 +16.97 42 55 Emilian Focşeneanu 2:08.81 +18.44 43 51 Péter Kristály 2:09.88 +19.51 44 56 Aurel Foiciuc 2:09.94 +19.57 45 52 Lamine Guèye 2:12.84 +22.47 - 9 Leonhard Stock DNF - - 17 Danilo Sbardellotto DNF - - 18 Marc Girardelli DNF - - 20 Adrien Duvillard DNF - - 27 Paul Accola DNF - - 31 Roman Torn DNF - - 43 Markus Foser DNF - - 44 Nils Linneberg DNF - - 53 Alphonse Gomis DNF - - 29 Cary Mullen DQ - - 49 Pierre Kőszáli DNS - Source:
References
External links FIS results