Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill explained

Event:Men's Downhill
Games:1980 Winter
Venue:Whiteface Mountain
Wilmington, New York, U.S.
Date:February 14, 1980
Competitors:47
Nations:22
Win Value:1:45.50
Gold:Leonhard Stock
Goldnoc:AUT
Silver:Peter Wirnsberger
Silvernoc:AUT
Bronze:Steve Podborski
Bronzenoc:CAN
Prev:1976
Next:1984
Men's Downhill
Location:Whiteface Mountain
Vertical:   832m (2,730feet)
Top Elevation:1313m (4,308feet)  
Base Elevation:   481m (1,578feet)

The Men's Downhill competition of the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid was held at Whiteface Mountain on Thursday,

The defending world champion was Josef Walcher of Austria, while Switzerland's Peter Müller was the defending World Cup downhill champion and led the 1980 World Cup.[1] [2] Defending Olympic champion Franz Klammer did not compete; he was not selected to the Austrian Olympic team in 1980.[3]

Gold medalist Leonhard Stock was an alternate on the Austrian downhill team, at the Olympics for the slalom. His fast training times earned him a spot on the four-man team, displacing Walcher, the reigning world champion.[4] [5] [6] All four Austrians in the race finished in the top ten and Müller was fourth.

The course started at an elevation of 1313m (4,308feet) above sea level with a vertical drop of 832m (2,730feet) and a length of 3.009km (01.87miles). Stock's winning time was 105.50 seconds, yielding an average speed of 102.677km/h, with an average vertical descent rate of 7.886m/s.

Results

The race was started at 11:30 local time, (UTC −5). At the starting gate, the skies were broken overcast and snowing, the temperature was, wind speed was 53km/h and the snow condition was hard packed.

Rank Bib Name Country Time Difference
9 1:45.50 -
13 1:46.12 +0.62
15 1:46.62 +1.12
4 10 1:46.75 +1.25
5 23 1:47.04 +1.54
6 3 1:47.13 +1.63
7 12 1:47.21 +1.71
8 19 1:47.34 +1.84
9 1 1:47.70 +2.20
10 11 1:47.95 +2.45
11 16 1:48.12 +2.62
12 27 1:48.53 +3.03
13 30 1:48.65 +3.15
14 25 1:48.88 +3.38
15 6 1:48.98 +3.48
16 21 1:49.07 +3.57
17 5 1:49.09 +3.59
18 17 1:49.16 +3.66
19 261:49.26 +3.76
20 20 1:49.71 +4.21
21 22 1:49.77 +4.27
22 4 1:49.87 +4.37
23 2 1:50.00 +4.50
24 7 1:50.03 +4.53
25 24 1:50.13 +4.63
26 28 1:50.22 +4.72
27 29 1:50.69 +5.19
28 32 1:51.12 +5.62
29 31 1:52.02 +6.52
30 33 1:53.41 +7.91
31 36 1:54.31 +8.81
32 35 1:55.41 +9.91
33 34 1:55.83 +10.33
34 37 1:57.57 +12.07
35 47 1:57.81 +12.31
36 46 1:58.04 +12.54
37 38 1:59.01 +13.51
38 43 2:00.10 +14.60
39 39 2:02.01 +16.51
40 41 2:03.08 +17.58
41 45 2:12.24 +26.74
42 44 2:12.66 +27.16
- 40 DNF -
- 18 DNF -
- 14 DNF -
- 8 DNF -
- 42 DQ -
Source:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1979 World Cup standings. FIS. January 3, 2014.
  2. Web site: 1978 World Championships results. FIS. January 3, 2014.
  3. News: Klammer Olympic absentee . Palm Beach Post . (New York Times). Anderson . Dave . February 14, 1980 . D1.
  4. News: For Stock, it was an uphill battle . St. Petersburg Independent . (Florida) . Associated Press . February 15, 1980 . 5C .
  5. News: Unknown Austrian skier Stock suddenly is hero . St. Petersburg Times . (Florida) . Mizell . Hubert . February 15, 1980 . 1C .
  6. Austria storms the hill . Sports Illustrated . Johnson . William Oscar . February 25, 1980 . 22 .