The Winter Olympics - Men's Downhill

SNOWKINGS CLASSIC CLIP - 1976 DOWNHILL
Austria comes to a standstill as Klammer goes for Gold...

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The blue riband event of the games, the men's downhill has Gold medals have been claimed by both legends of the sport, such as Klammer, Killy, Sailer, Russi and Zurbriggen but also one-race wonders like Tommy Moe and Jean-Luc Cretier, who took advantage of poor snow conditions, or advantageous starting slots amidst changing race conditions. Indeed, the last time a pre-race favourite actually won the title was Zurbriggen in 1988, and before that Klammer in 1976.

No skier has ever won the Olympic downhill title more than once, a record that's unlikely to change for a long time.

Surprisingly, only three skiers have won gold on home snow, Austrian Egon Zimmermann in Innsbruck 1964, French legend Jean-Claude Killy four years later in Grenoble and of course, Franz Klammer's epic run, again at Innsbruck in 1976.

Downhill Skiing Men's Olympic Champions

The list of winners of the Men's Downhill at the Winter Olympics:

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2010 Vancouver (CAN)	Didier Defago (SUI)	Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR)	Bode Miller (USA)
2006 Turin (ITA)	Antoine Deneriaz (FRA)	Michael Walchhofer (AUT)	Bruno Kernen (SUI)
2002 Salt Lake City (USA)	Fritz Strobl (AUT)	Lasse Kjus (NOR)	Stephan Eberharter (AUT)
1998 Nagano (JAP)	Jean-Luc Cretier (FRA)	Lasse Kjus (NOR)	Hannes Trinkl (AUT)
1994 Lillehammer (NOR)	Tommy Moe (USA)	Kjetil Andre Aamodt (NOR)	Ed Podivinsky (CAN)
1992 Albertville (FRA)	Patrick Ortlieb (AUT)	Franck Piccard (FRA)	Günther Mader (AUT)
1988 Calgary (CAN)	Pirmin Zurbriggen (SUI)	Peter Muller (SUI)	Franck Piccard (FRA)
1984 Sarajevo (YUG)	Bill Johnson (USA)	Peter Muller (SUI)	Anton Steiner (AUT)
1980 Lake Placid (USA)	Leonhard Stock (AUT)	Peter Wirnsberger (AUT)	Steve Podborski (CAN)
1976 Innsbruck (AUT)	Franz Klammer (AUT)	Bernhard Russi (SUI)	Herbert Plank (ITA)
1972 Sapporo (JAP)	Bernhard Russi (SUI)	Roland Collombin (SUI)	Heinrich Messner (AUT)
1968 Grenoble (FRA)	Jean-Claude Killy (FRA)	Guy Perillat (FRA)	Jean-Daniel Datwyler (SUI)
1964 Innsbruck (AUT)	Egon Zimmermann (AUT)	Leo Lacroix (FRA)	Wolfgang Bartels (EUA)
1960 Squaw Valley (USA)	Jean Vuarnet (FRA)	Hans-Peter Lanig (EUA)	Guy Perillat (FRA)
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo (ITA)	Toni Sailer (AUT)	Raymond Fellay (SUI)	Anderl Molterer (AUT)
1952 Oslo (NOR)	Zeno Colo (ITA)	Othmar Schneider (AUT)	Christian Pravda (AUT)
1948 St. Moritz (SUI)	Henri Oreiller (FRA)	Franz Gabl (AUT)	Karl Molitor (SUI) Rolf Olinger (SUI) Tie

Downhill Men's Olympic Champions - Most Successful Nations

It's no surprise to see the Austrians at the top of the table given some of the mighty downhillers they've churned out over the years, but it's the position of the French only one win behind them and the Swiss lagging three titles behind them that makes for surprising viewing. And also that only five nations have ever won it.

Number of Titles	Nation	Years
6	Austria	1956 1964 1976 1980 1992 2002
5	France	1948 1960 1968 1998 2006
3	Switzerland	1972 1988 2010
2	USA	1984 1994
1	Italy	1952

Keywords : Winter Olympics Men's Skiing Downhill : list of best olympic downhillers skiers in history : all mens downhill gold winners : best olympic downhill skiers : past olympic downhill winners