Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics

Alpine Skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of six alpine skiing events. The races were held February 14–23 at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, New York,[1][2] northeast of host Lake Placid.[3][4]

Alpine skiing
at the XIII Olympic Winter Games
VenueWhiteface Mountain
Wilmington, New York
DatesFebruary 14–23, 1980
No. of events6
Competitors174 from 30 nations
← 1976
1984 →
Lake Placid  is located in the United States
Lake Placid 
Lake Placid 
Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics is located in New York
Whiteface Mtn
Whiteface Mtn
Lake Placid
Lake Placid

This was the first Olympics in which the women's giant slalom consisted of two runs, rather than one, and both GS events ran only one run per day. This was the last Olympics which also served as World Championships for alpine skiing.

Medal summary

edit

Eight nations won medals in Alpine skiing, with Liechtenstein leading the medal table, winning two gold, and two silver. Hanni Wenzel led the individual medal table, finishing on the podium in all three women's events, with two gold and one silver. Ingemar Stenmark was the leading male medalist, with two golds.

Wenzel's two gold medals were the first, and to date, only, won by Liechtenstein at the Olympics.

Medal table

edit
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Liechtenstein (LIE)2204
2  Austria (AUT)2114
3  Sweden (SWE)2002
4  West Germany (FRG)0202
5  United States (USA)0101
6  Switzerland (SUI)0033
7  Canada (CAN)0011
  France (FRA)0011
Totals (8 entries)66618

Source:[1]

Men's events

edit
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Downhill
details
Leonhard Stock
  Austria
1:45.50 Peter Wirnsberger
  Austria
1:46.12 Steve Podborski
  Canada
1:46.62
Giant slalom
details
Ingemar Stenmark
  Sweden
2:40.74 Andreas Wenzel
  Liechtenstein
2:41.49 Hans Enn
  Austria
2:42.51
Slalom
details
Ingemar Stenmark
  Sweden
1:44.26 Phil Mahre
  United States
1:44.76 Jacques Lüthy
  Switzerland
1:45.06

Source:[1]

Women's events

edit
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Downhill
details
Annemarie Moser-Pröll
  Austria
1:37.52 Hanni Wenzel
  Liechtenstein
1:38.22 Marie-Theres Nadig
  Switzerland
1:38.36
Giant slalom
details
Hanni Wenzel
  Liechtenstein
2:41.66 Irene Epple
  West Germany
2:42.12 Perrine Pelen
  France
2:42.41
Slalom
details
Hanni Wenzel
  Liechtenstein
1:25.09 Christa Kinshofer
  West Germany
1:26.50 Erika Hess
  Switzerland
1:27.89

Source:[1]

Course information

edit
Date Race Start
Elevation
Finish
Elevation
Vertical
Drop
Course
Length
Average
Gradient
Thu 14-Feb  Downhill – men  1,313 m (4,308 ft)  481 m (1,578 ft)  832 m (2,730 ft)  3.009 km (1.870 mi) 27.7%
Sun 17-Feb  Downhill – women  1,181 m (3,875 ft)  481 m (1,578 ft)  700 m (2,297 ft)  2.698 km (1.676 mi) 25.9%
Mon 18-Feb  Giant slalom – men  (1st run)  876 m (2,874 ft)  481 m (1,578 ft)  395 m (1,296 ft)  1.354 km (0.841 mi) 29.2%
Tue 19-Feb  Giant slalom – men  (2nd run)  876 m (2,874 ft)  481 m (1,578 ft)  395 m (1,296 ft)  1.303 km (0.810 mi) 30.3%
Wed 20-Feb  Giant slalom – women  (1st run)  845 m (2,772 ft)  481 m (1,578 ft)  364 m (1,194 ft)  1.231 km (0.765 mi) 29.6%
Thu 21-Feb  Giant slalom – women  (2nd run)  876 m (2,874 ft)  512 m (1,680 ft)  364 m (1,194 ft)  1.315 km (0.817 mi) 27.7%
Fri 22-Feb  Slalom – men  (2 runs)  876 m (2,874 ft)  667 m (2,188 ft)  209 m (686 ft)  0.549 km (0.341 mi) 38.1%
Sat 23-Feb  Slalom – women  (2 runs)  845 m (2,772 ft)  667 m (2,188 ft)  178 m (584 ft)  0.465 km (0.289 mi) 38.3%
Source:[1][2]

Participating nations

edit

Thirty nations sent alpine skiers to compete in the events in Lake Placid. China, Costa Rica and Cyprus made their Olympic alpine skiing debuts. Below is a list of the competing nations; in parentheses are the number of national competitors.[1]

World championships

edit

From 1948 through these Olympics in 1980, the alpine skiing events at the Winter Olympics also served as the World Championships, held every two years. With the addition of the giant slalom, the combined event was dropped for 1950 and 1952, but returned as a World Championship event in 1954 as a "paper race" which used the results from the three events. During the Olympics from 1956 through 1980, World Championship medals were awarded by the FIS for the combined event. The combined returned as a separate event at the World Championships in 1982 and at the Olympics in 1988.

Combined

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f "The Official Report of the XIIIth Olympic Winter Games Lake Placid 1980 - Official Results" (PDF). Lake Placid Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. 1980. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Kidd, Billy (February 1980). "The Alpine courses". Skiing. p. 113.
  3. ^ "Alpine Skiing at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  4. ^ Johnson, William Oscar (February 11, 1980). "The Downhill: Majesty and Madness". Sports Illustrated. (Olympic preview). p. 84.
edit