The men’s downhill skiing event took place on Wednesday evening from Pyeonchang, and the Norwegian skiiers took top honors as Aksel Lund Svindal won gold and Kjetil Jansrud won silver. Svindal is now the oldest man to win a gold in Olympic alpine skiing history. The favorite in this event, Switzerland’s Beat Feuz, was in first place after his 1:40.43 run, but he was passed by the Norwegians shortly thereafter and finished with bronze.
Olympic results 2018: Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal wins gold in Men’s Downhill
The Netherlands took home both the gold and silver medals.
Photo by Alain Grosclaude/Agence Zoom/Getty Images
Austria’s Matthias Mayer, the defending champion from Sochi four years ago, had a surprisingly bad showing, finishing way off from the podium in ninth.
The Norwegians had never won a gold medal in men’s downhill, so Wednesday night’s showing was an impressive outing from the “Attacking Vikings.”
The United States had four men compete in Wednesday evening’s event: Jared Goldberg, Bryce Bennett, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, and Wiley Maple. Bennett finished the best for the U.S., coming in 16th with his time of 1:42.22.
Since 1948, only five nations have earned gold in the downhill races. Austria has had seven gold-medal wins, France has five, Switzerland has three, the United States two, and Italy one. With Svindal’s medal, Norway now gets a stake in that claim.
Below are the full results from men’s downhill:
2018 Winter Olympics: Men’s Downhill Skiing Results
PLACE | COUNTRY | COMPETITOR | TIME | TIME OFF LEAD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | Aksel Lund Svindal | 1:40.25 | 0 |
| 2 | Norway | Kjetil Jansrud | 1:40.37 | 0.12 |
| 3 | Switzerland | Beau Fitz | 1:40.43 | 0.18 |
| 4 | Italy | Dominik Paris | 1:40.79 | 0.54 |
| 5 | Germany | Thomas Dressden | 1:41.03 | 0.78 |
| 6 | Italy | Peter Fill | 1:41.08 | 0.83 |
| 7 | Austria | Vincent Kriechmayr | 1:41.19 | 0.94 |
| 8 | France | Brice Roger | 1:41.39 | 1.14 |
| 9 | Austria | Matthias Mayer | 1:41.46 | 1.21 |
| 10 | Germany | Andreas Sander | 1:41.62 | 1.37 |
| 11 | Austria | Max Franz | 1:41.75 | 1.50 |
| 12 | Austria | Hannes Reichelt | 1:41.76 | 1.51 |
| 13 | Switzerland | Mauro Caviezel | 1:41.86 | 1.61 |
| 14 | Canada | Manuel Osborne-Paradis | 1:41.89 | 1.64 |
| 15 | Norway | Aleksander Aamodt Kilde | 1:42.18 | 1.93 |
| 16 | United States | Bryce Bennett | 1:42.22 | 1.97 |
| 17 | Canada | Johan Clarey | 1:42.39 | 2.14 |
Learn skiing and snowboarding lingo
See More:
