# Alpine skiing at the 1972 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

The Men's Downhill competition of the Sapporo 1972 Olympics was held at Mount Eniwa on Monday, February 7.
The defending world champion was Bernhard Russi of Switzerland, who was also the defending World Cup downhill champion, and Austria's Karl Schranz led the current season. Schranz was classified as a professional and banned from the Olympics.
Russi won the gold medal, teammate Roland Collombin took the silver, and Heini Messner of Austria won the bronze.
The starting gate was at an elevation of 1,126 m (3,694 ft) above sea level, with a vertical drop of 772 m (2,533 ft). The course length was 2.640 km (1.64 mi) and Russi's winning run of 111.43 seconds resulted in an average speed of 85.291 km/h (53.0 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 6.928 m/s (22.7 ft/s).

## Results

The race started at 13:30 JST (UTC+9) under clear skies, with an air temperature of −7 °C (19 °F).
| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Difference |
| | 4 | Bernhard Russi | Switzerland | 1:51.43 | — |
| | 11 | Roland Collombin | Switzerland | 1:52.07 | +0.64 |
| | 5 | Heinrich Messner | Austria | 1:52.40 | +0.97 |
| 4 | 1 | Andreas Sprecher | Switzerland | 1:53.11 | +1.68 |
| 5 | 26 | Erik Håker | Norway | 1:53.16 | +1.73 |
| 6 | 13 | Walter Tresch | Switzerland | 1:53.19 | +1.76 |
| 7 | 8 | Karl Cordin | Austria | 1:53.32 | +1.89 |
| 8 | 18 | Bob Cochran | United States | 1:53.39 | +1.96 |
| 9 | 22 | Josef Loidl | Austria | 1:53.71 | +2.28 |
| 10 | 7 | Marcello Varallo | Italy | 1:53.85 | +2.42 |
| 11 | 17 | Giuliano Besson | Italy | 1:54.15 | +2.72 |
| 11 | 10 | Stefano Anzi | Italy | 1:54.15 | +2.72 |
| 13 | 2 | Gustav Thöni | Italy | 1:54.37 | +2.94 |
| 14 | 15 | Mike Lafferty | United States | 1:54.38 | +2.95 |
| 15 | 20 | Roger Rossat-Mignod | France | 1:54.72 | +3.29 |
| 16 | 3 | Bernard Orcel | France | 1:54.81 | +3.38 |
| 17 | 14 | David Currier | United States | 1:54.96 | +3.53 |
| 18 | 25 | Hans-Jörg Schlager | West Germany | 1:55.05 | +3.62 |
| 19 | 27 | Henri Duvillard | France | 1:55.13 | +3.70 |
| 20 | 30 | Jim Hunter | Canada | 1:55.16 | +3.73 |
| 21 | 9 | Bernard Charvin | France | 1:55.33 | +3.90 |
| 22 | 24 | Sumihiro Tomii | Japan | 1:55.34 | +3.91 |
| 23 | 6 | Malcolm Milne | Australia | 1:55.48 | +4.05 |
| 24 | 12 | Franz Vogler | West Germany | 1:55.50 | +4.07 |
| 25 | 19 | Hank Kashiwa | United States | 1:55.60 | +4.17 |
| 26 | 23 | Herbert Marxer | Liechtenstein | 1:55.90 | +4.47 |
| 27 | 29 | Alfred Hagn | West Germany | 1:56.04 | +4.61 |
| 28 | 42 | Manni Thofte | Sweden | 1:56.66 | +5.23 |
| 29 | 21 | Willi Lesch | West Germany | 1:56.67 | +5.24 |
| 30 | 44 | Willi Frommelt | Liechtenstein | 1:57.58 | +6.15 |
| 31 | 31 | Reinhard Tritscher | Austria | 1:58.05 | +6.62 |
| 32 | 28 | Reto Barrington | Canada | 1:58.29 | +6.86 |
| 33 | 48 | Royston Varley | Great Britain | 1:58.53 | +7.10 |
| 34 | 45 | Olle Rolén | Sweden | 1:59.28 | +7.85 |
| 35 | 43 | Masahiko Otsue | Japan | 1:59.55 | +8.12 |
| 36 | 47 | Peik Christensen | Norway | 1:59.71 | +8.28 |
| 37 | 37 | Alex Mapelli-Mozzi | Great Britain | 2:00.28 | +8.85 |
| 38 | 49 | Derek Robbins | Canada | 2:00.38 | +8.95 |
| 39 | 53 | Dan Cristea | Romania | 2:01.26 | +9.83 |
| 40 | 36 | Ivan Penev | Bulgaria | 2:02.16 | +10.73 |
| 41 | 40 | Chris Womersley | New Zealand | 2:02.24 | +10.81 |
| 42 | 50 | Robert Blanchaer | Belgium | 2:02.45 | +11.02 |
| 43 | 39 | Konrad Bartelski | Great Britain | 2:02.71 | +11.28 |
| 44 | 46 | Steven Clifford | Australia | 2:02.90 | +11.47 |
| 45 | 41 | Resmi Resmiev | Bulgaria | 2:03.01 | +11.58 |
| 46 | 62 | Sergey Grishchenko | Soviet Union | 2:03.19 | +11.76 |
| 47 | 54 | Carlos Perner | Argentina | 2:03.69 | +12.26 |
| 48 | 55 | Virgil Brenci | Romania | 2:04.33 | +12.90 |
| 49 | 38 | Ross Ewington | New Zealand | 2:04.75 | +13.32 |
| 50 | 56 | Iain Finlayson | Great Britain | 2:06.50 | +15.07 |
| 51 | 58 | Jorge-Emilio Lazzarini | Argentina | 2:08.29 | +16.86 |
| 52 | 60 | Ali Saveh | Iran | 2:11.29 | +19.86 |
| 53 | 61 | Lotfollah Kia Shemshaki | Iran | 2:16.14 | +24.71 |
| 54 | 57 | Fayzollah Band Ali | Iran | 2:18.19 | +26.76 |
| 55 | 59 | Gorban Ali Kalhor | Iran | 2:20.98 | +29.55 |
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