Duarte Silva was 27 years old at the time of the Oslo Olympics, and was making his only Olympic appearance. On 16 February, he participated in the men's downhill race, which was held over a single run of the course. Silva finished the race in 3 minutes and 58.4 seconds, which put him in 69th place out of 74 competitors who completed the event. The gold medal was won by Zeno Colò of Italy in 2 minutes and 30.8 seconds, 87 seconds faster than Silva's time. The silver and bronze medals were both won by Austrians, Othmar Schneider and Christian Pravda, respectively.