Alpine skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill explained

Event:	Men's downhill
Games:	1964 Winter
Venue:	Patscherkofel Tyrol, Austria
Date:	30 January 1964
Competitors:	84
Nations:	27
Win Value:	2:18.16
Gold:	Egon Zimmermann
Goldnoc:	AUT
Silver:	Léo Lacroix
Silvernoc:	FRA
Bronze:	Wolfgang Bartels
Bronzenoc:	EUA
Prev:	1960
Next:	1968

Men's Downhill
Location:	Patscherkofel
Vertical:	867m (2,844feet)
Top Elevation:	1952m (6,404feet)
Base Elevation:	1085m (3,560feet)

The Men's downhill competition of the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria, was held at Patscherkofel on Thursday, 30 January.^[1] The defending world champion was Karl Schranz of Austria,^[2] and defending Olympic champion Jean Vuarnet of France had retired from competition.^[3]

The race course had a number of casualties during training runs, including the death of Ross Milne of Australia,^[4] ^[5] which led to a label of "Course of Fear."^[6] Zimmermann was favored by many to win the downhill and to the delight of the Austrian fans he won by 0.74 seconds.^[6] ^[7]

The starting gate was at an elevation of 1952m (6,404feet), and the vertical drop was 867m (2,844feet). The course length was 3.12km (01.94miles) and Zimmerman's winning run resulted in an average speed of 81.297km/h, with an average vertical descent rate of 6.275m/s. Following the victory, Zimmerman was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the United States.^[7]

A dozen years later in 1976, Franz Klammer raced on a slightly shorter course (by 100abbr=offNaNabbr=off) and shaved more than 32 seconds off of Zimmerman's time to famously win the Olympic downhill.^[8]

Results

Rank	Bib	Time	Difference
	7	2:18.16	—
	4	2:18.90	+0.74
	11	2:19.48	+1.32
4	10	2:19.54	+1.38
5	3	2:19.67	+1.51
6	6	2:19.79	+1.63
7	15	2:19.98	+1.82
8	24	2:20.23	+2.07
9	14	2:20.72	+2.56
10	12	2:20.74	+2.58
11	13	2:20.98	+2.82
12	5	2:21.03	+2.87
13	16	2:21.16	+3.00
14	20	2:21.59	+3.43
15	27	2:21.71	+3.55
16	1	2:21.82	+3.66
17	8	2:22.05	+3.89
18	22	2:22.69	+4.53
19	2	2:22.72	+4.56
20	21	2:23.00	+4.84
21	25	2:23.01	+4.85
22	30	2:23.94	+5.78
23	19	2:25.30	+7.14
24	63	2:25.88	+7.72
25	23	2:26.59	+8.43
26	49	2:27.31	+9.15
27	34	2:27.33	+9.17
28	29	2:27.74	+9.58
29	32	2:27.82	+9.66
30	35	2:27.90	+9.74
31	46	2:29.29	+11.13
32	61	2:29.74	+11.58
33	70	2:30.02	+11.86
34	48	2:30.06	+11.90
35	40	2:30.35	+12.19
36	76	2:30.83	+12.67
37	45	2:31.14	+12.98
38	43	2:31.32	+13.16
39	37	2:31.34	+13.18
40	41	2:32.29	+14.13
41	60	2:32.85	+14.69
42	9	2:32.96	+14.80
43	51	2:33.52	+15.36
44	39	2:34.32	+16.16
45	62	2:34.55	+16.39
46	72	2:34.76	+16.60
47	75	2:35.27	+17.11
48	55	2:35.84	+17.68
49	44	2:35.89	+17.73
50	54	2:36.12	+17.96
51	42	2:36.54	+18.38
52	38	2:37.25	+19.09
53	65	2:37.38	+19.22
54	69	2:38.13	+19.97
55	74	2:39.79	+21.63
56	77	2:39.97	+21.81
57	67	2:40.82	+22.66
58	53	2:41.67	+23.51
59	52	2:42.59	+24.43
60	81	2:43.32	+25.16
61	73	2:44.07	+25.91
62	78	2:44.77	+26.61
63	86	2:45.63	+27.47
64	83	2:47.07	+28.91
65	58	2:50.70	+32.54
66	68	2:52.44	+34.28
67	79	2:55.34	+37.18
68	80	2:55.58	+37.42
69	71	2:57.10	+38.94
70	82	3:03.66	+45.50
71	84	3:05.71	+47.55
72	87	3:09.99	+51.83
73	89	3:10.09	+51.93
74	90	3:40.44	+82.28
75	85	3:55.15	+96.99
76	88	4:34.51	+136.35
77	64	4:51.18	+153.02
-	47	DQ	-
-	31	DNF	-
-	33	DNF	-
-	50	DNF	-
-	56	DNF	-
-	57	DNF	-
-	91	DNF	-

External links

FIS results

Notes and References

Web site: Offizieller Bericht der IX. Olympischen Winterspiele Innsbruck 1964. LA84 Foundation. Austrian Federal Publishing House for Instruction, Science and Art, Vienna and Munich. 1964. January 3, 2014.
Web site: 1962 World Championships results. FIS. January 3, 2014.
Web site: Alpine Skiing at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Games: Men's Downhill . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417195341/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/1964/ASK/mens-downhill.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 12 March 2018 . Sports Reference.
News: Australian skier killed in Olympic drill . Sarasota Herald-Tribune . (Florida). Associated Press . January 26, 1964 . 41 .
News: Aussie's Milne dies of injuries . Bend Bulletin . (Oregon). UPI . January 25, 1964 . 5.
A fight for life by the home team . https://archive.today/20130102161141/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1135279/index.htm . dead . January 2, 2013 . Sports Illustrated . Ress . Paul . January 27, 1964 . 32 .
Russian blades and fast French skis . https://archive.today/20120719162340/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1075615/index.htm . dead . July 19, 2012 . Sports Illustrated . Jenkins . Dan . Dan Jenkins . February 10, 1964 . 14 .
On came the heroes. Sports Illustrated. Johnson . William Oscar . 16 February 1976. 10.