# Alpine skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

The marquee event of alpine skiing was held on Sunday, February 10, at the Snowbasin ski area, east of Ogden under clear skies.
Designed by 1972 gold medalist Bernhard Russi, the steep "Grizzly Downhill" course was just 1.777 miles (2.860 km) in length, and began at a lofty 9,288 feet (2,831 m) above sea level, with a vertical drop of 2,897 feet (883 m). The average gradient on the Grizzly Downhill was 30.87% (17.98°), exceeding the classic layouts of Kitzbühel (860 m vertical / 3312 m length = 25.97%, 15.05°) and Wengen (1025 m vertical / 4455 m length = 23.01%, 13.30°).
The top five finishers completed the course in less than a hundred seconds, making it the quickest descending Olympic downhill. The average speed of the medalists for the entire course exceeded 64 mph (103 km/h), rating it among the fastest courses in international competition.
Pre-race favorite Stephan Eberharter of Austria took the bronze medal, bested by compatriot Fritz Strobl and all-arounder Lasse Kjus of Norway. Strobl's average speed was 64.538 mph (103.864 km/h), at an average vertical descent of 29.224 ft/s (8.907 m/s).

## Results

The race was started at 10:00 local time, (UTC −7). At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was −3.0 °C (27 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was lower, at −4.0 °C (25 °F).
| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Difference |
| | 10 | Fritz Strobl | Austria | 1:39.13 | — |
| | 13 | Lasse Kjus | Norway | 1:39.35 | +0.22 |
| | 9 | Stephan Eberharter | Austria | 1:39.41 | +0.28 |
| 4 | 12 | Kjetil André Aamodt | Norway | 1:39.78 | +0.65 |
| 5 | 19 | Claude Crétier | France | 1:39.96 | +0.83 |
| 6 | 7 | Christian Greber | Austria | 1:40.00 | +0.87 |
| 7 | 3 | Fredrik Nyberg | Sweden | 1:40.30 | +1.17 |
| 8 | 15 | Ambrosi Hoffmann | Switzerland | 1:40.31 | +1.18 |
| 9 | 31 | Marco Sullivan | United States | 1:40.37 | +1.24 |
| 10 | 2 | Sébastien Fournier-Bidoz | France | 1:40.39 | +1.26 |
| 11 | 18 | Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin | France | 1:40.58 | +1.45 |
| 12 | 23 | Bjarne Solbakken | Norway | 1:40.74 | +1.61 |
| 12 | 5 | Antoine Dénériaz | France | 1:40.74 | +1.61 |
| 14 | 14 | Didier Cuche | Switzerland | 1:40.76 | +1.63 |
| 15 | 11 | Franco Cavegn | Switzerland | 1:40.81 | +1.68 |
| 16 | 17 | Daron Rahlves | United States | 1:40.84 | +1.71 |
| 17 | 21 | Roland Fischnaller | Italy | 1:40.85 | +1.72 |
| 18 | 28 | Patrik Järbyn | Sweden | 1:41.05 | +1.92 |
| 19 | 4 | Alessandro Fattori | Italy | 1:41.24 | +2.11 |
| 20 | 22 | Christoph Gruber | Austria | 1:41.25 | +2.12 |
| 21 | 29 | Didier Défago | Switzerland | 1:41.27 | +2.14 |
| 22 | 6 | Kurt Sulzenbacher | Italy | 1:41.56 | +2.43 |
| 23 | 16 | Peter Pen | Slovenia | 1:41.66 | +2.53 |
| 24 | 27 | Ed Podivinsky | Canada | 1:41.69 | +2.56 |
| 25 | 20 | Kenneth Sivertsen | Norway | 1:41.70 | +2.57 |
| 26 | 32 | Jürgen Hasler | Liechtenstein | 1:41.76 | +2.63 |
| 27 | 34 | Jakub Fiala | United States | 1:41.84 | +2.71 |
| 28 | 41 | Andrej Jerman | Slovenia | 1:41.85 | +2.72 |
| 29 | 25 | Marco Büchel | Liechtenstein | 1:41.86 | +2.73 |
| 29 | 1 | Scott Macartney | United States | 1:41.86 | +2.73 |
| 31 | 26 | Gregor Sparovec | Slovenia | 1:41.88 | +2.75 |
| 32 | 24 | Darin McBeath | Canada | 1:42.15 | +3.02 |
| 33 | 36 | Jernej Koblar | Slovenia | 1:42.41 | +3.18 |
| 34 | 30 | Max Rauffer | Germany | 1:42.52 | +3.39 |
| 35 | 8 | Kristian Ghedina | Italy | 1:42.54 | +3.41 |
| 36 | 46 | Maksim Kedrin | Russia | 1:43.04 | +3.91 |
| 37 | 39 | AJ Bear | Australia | 1:43.19 | +4.06 |
| 38 | 35 | Dave Anderson | Canada | 1:43.20 | +4.07 |
| 39 | 50 | Ondřej Bank | Czech Republic | 1:43.33 | +4.20 |
| 40 | 42 | Borek Zakouřil | Czech Republic | 1:43.63 | +4.50 |
| 41 | 40 | Andrey Filichkin | Russia | 1:43.73 | +4.60 |
| 42 | 43 | Yasuyuki Takishita | Japan | 1:43.75 | +4.62 |
| 43 | 37 | Pavel Chestakov | Russia | 1:44.35 | +5.22 |
| 44 | 48 | Sergey Komarov | Russia | 1:45.25 | +6.12 |
| 45 | 38 | Craig Branch | Australia | 1:45.34 | +6.21 |
| 46 | 44 | Jan Holický | Czech Republic | 1:45.59 | +6.36 |
| 47 | 54 | Ivan Heimschild | Slovakia | 1:46.36 | +7.23 |
| 48 | 47 | Maui Gayme | Chile | 1:47.63 | +8.50 |
| 49 | 52 | Nikolay Skriabin | Ukraine | 1:47.65 | +8.52 |
| 50 | 45 | Mikael Gayme | Chile | 1:48.37 | +9.24 |
| 51 | 55 | Alexander Heath | South Africa | 1:48.84 | +9.71 |
| 52 | 51 | Nicolás Arsel | Argentina | 1:49.75 | +10.62 |
| 53 | 53 | Paul Schwarzacher-Joyce | Ireland | 1:54.42 | +15.29 |
| | 49 | Ross Green | Great Britain | DNS | |
| | 33 | Cristian Javier Simari Birkner | Argentina | DSQ | |