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Alpine skiing at the 1976 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

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Men's downhill
at the XII Olympic Winter Games
VenuePatscherkofel
Tyrol, Austria
Date5 February 1976
Competitors74 from 27 nations
Winning time1:45.73
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Franz Klammer  Austria
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Bernhard Russi  Switzerland
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Herbert Plank  Italy
← 1972
1980 →
Men's Downhill
LocationPatscherkofel
Vertical   870 m (2,854 ft)
Top elevation1,950 m (6,398 ft)  
Base elevation1,080 m (3,543 ft)
Patscherkofel is located in Austria
Patscherkofel
Patscherkofel

The Men's Downhill competition of the 1976 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria, was held at Patscherkofel on Thursday, 5 February,[1][2][3] on the same course as in 1964.[4]

The defending world champion was David Zwilling of Austria, who had recently retired; Bernhard Russi of Switzerland was the defending Olympic champion. Franz Klammer of Austria was the defending World Cup downhill champion and led the current season;[5][6] he had also won the pre-Olympic World Cup downhill at Patcherkofel a year earlier in January 1975.

Klammer won the gold medal, Russi took the silver, and Herbert Plank of Italy was the bronze medalist.[1][2][7]

The starting gate was at an elevation of 1,950 m (6,398 ft) above sea level, with a vertical drop of 870 m (2,854 ft).[3] The course length was 3.020 km (1.88 mi) and Klammer's famous winning run resulted in an average speed of 102.828 km/h (63.9 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 8.2285 m/s (27.0 ft/s), significantly faster than previous Olympic downhills. At age 22, the win elevated him to an international celebrity and he was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.[7]

Egon Zimmermann, also of Austria, took the gold medal a dozen years earlier in the 1964 Olympic downhill. His winning time was 2:18.16, more than a half-minute behind Klammer's.

Through 2022, no Olympic men's downhill champion has repeated; Russi remains the sole defender to medal.

Results

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Rank Bib Name Country Time Difference
1st place, gold medalist(s) 15 Franz Klammer  Austria 1:45.73
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3 Bernhard Russi  Switzerland 1:46.06 +0.33
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 8 Herbert Plank  Italy 1:46.59 +0.86
4 11 Philippe Roux  Switzerland 1:46.69 +0.96
5 10 Ken Read  Canada 1:46.83 +1.10
6 19 Andy Mill  United States 1:47.06 +1.33
7 29 Walter Tresch  Switzerland 1:47.29 +1.56
8 13 Dave Irwin  Canada 1:47.41 +1.68
9 6 Sepp Walcher  Austria 1:47.45 +1.72
10 5 Jim Hunter  Canada 1:47.52 +1.79
11 30 Greg Jones  United States 1:47.84 +2.11
12 1 René Berthod  Switzerland 1:47.89 +2.16
13 22 Pete Patterson  United States 1:47.94 +2.21
14 21 Rolando Thoeni  Italy 1:48.13 +2.40
15 20 Peter Fischer  West Germany 1:48.18 +2.45
16 24 Patrice Pellat-Finet  France 1:48.34 +2.61
17 25 Sepp Ferstl  West Germany 1:48.41 +2.68
18 28 Dave Murray  Canada 1:48.43 +2.70
19 4 Klaus Eberhard  Austria 1:48.45 +2.72
20 42 Sumihiro Tomii  Japan 1:48.88 +3.15
21 16 Willi Frommelt  Liechtenstein 1:48.92 +3.19
22 31 David Griff  Australia 1:49.02 +3.29
2 Michael Veith  West Germany
24 27 Karl Anderson  United States 1:49.08 +3.35
25 9 Erik Håker  Norway 1:49.19 +3.46
26 14 Gustavo Thoeni  Italy 1:49.25 +3.52
27 18 Mikio Katagiri  Japan 1:50.03 +4.30
28 38 Andreas Wenzel  Liechtenstein 1:50.08 +4.35
29 46 Wolfgang Junginger  West Germany 1:50.48 +4.75
30 37 Alan Stewart  Great Britain 1:50.56 +4.83
31 44 Luis Rosenkjer  Argentina 1:50.87 +5.14
32 34 Stuart Fitzsimmons  Great Britain 1:50.89 +5.16
33 45 Bohumír Zeman  Czechoslovakia 1:51.27 +5.54
34 35 Kim Clifford  Australia 1:51.64 +5.91
35 17 Francisco Fernández Ochoa  Spain 1:51.91 +6.18
36 36 Juan Manuel Fernández Ochoa  Spain 1:52.40 +6.67
37 43 Andrej Koželj  Yugoslavia 1:52.75 +7.02
33 Peter Fuchs  Great Britain
39 39 Juan Angel Olivieri  Argentina 1:52.76 +7.03
40 55 Miloslav Sochor  Czechoslovakia 1:53.48 +7.75
41 32 Jaime Ros  Spain 1:53.50 +7.77
42 59 Jorge García  Spain 1:53.55 +7.82
43 58 Didier Xhaet  Belgium 1:53.56 +7.83
44 49 Vladimir Andreyev  Soviet Union 1:53.61 +7.88
45 41 Robert Blanchaer  Belgium 1:54.30 +8.57
46 40 Ajdin Pašović  Yugoslavia 1:54.57 +8.84
47 54 Carlos Alberto Martínez  Argentina 1:54.62 +8.89
48 56 Ivan Penev  Bulgaria 1:55.56 +9.83
49 74 Dan Cristea  Romania 1:55.63 +9.90
50 70 Georgi Kochov  Bulgaria 1:55.82 +10.09
51 47 José Luis Koifman  Chile 1:56.30 +10.57
52 50 Roman Dereziński  Poland 1:56.33 +10.60
53 67 Stuart Blakely  New Zealand 1:57.91 +12.18
54 52 Antoine Crespo  Andorra 1:58.72 +12.99
55 53 Gorban Ali Kalhor  Iran 1:59.15 +13.42
56 62 Mohammad Hadj Kia Shemshaki  Iran 1:59.44 +13.71
57 68 Ion Cavaşi  Romania 2:00.19 +14.46
58 61 Akbar Kalili  Iran 2:00.32 +14.59
59 75 Rafael Cañas  Chile 2:00.39 +14.66
60 69 Brett Kendall  New Zealand 2:00.57 +14.84
61 63 Fernando Reutter  Chile 2:01.19 +15.46
62 64 Carlos Font  Andorra 2:01.75 +16.02
63 65 Ahmet Kıbıl  Turkey 2:03.74 +18.01
64 73 Mümtaz Demirhan  Turkey 2:06.01 +20.28
65 71 Thomas Karadimas  Greece 2:14.69 +28.96
66 66 Spyros Theodorou  Greece 2:17.08 +31.35
- 60 Robin Armstrong  New Zealand DNF -
- 57 Mohammad Kalhor  Iran DNF -
- 51 Xavier Areny  Andorra DNF -
- 48 Adrián Roncallo  Argentina DNF -
- 26 Konrad Bartelski  Great Britain DNF -
- 23 Rob McIntyre  Australia DNF -
- 12 Anton Steiner  Austria DNF -
- 7 Erwin Stricker  Italy DNF -
- 72 Murat Tosun  Turkey DNS -
Source:[3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Skier, skater, give U.S. silver". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 5 February 1976. p. 1C.
  2. ^ a b Myers, Morley (February 5, 1976). "Austrian ace Klammer wins downhill". Nashua Telegraph. (New Hampshire). UPI. p. 21.
  3. ^ a b c "Final Report - XII. Olympische Winterspiele Innsbruck 1976" (PDF). Organizing Committee for the XIIth Winter Olympic Games 1976. LA84 Foundation. 1976. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  4. ^ "Alpine Skiing at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Games: Men's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  5. ^ "1975 World Cup standings". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  6. ^ "1974 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  7. ^ a b Johnson, William Oscar (16 February 1976). "On came the heroes". Sports Illustrated. p. 10.
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