Alpine Skiing At The 1964 Winter Olympics – Men's Downhill
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The Men's downhill competition of the
1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 (), were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was a ...
at
Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...
,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, was held at
Patscherkofel Patscherkofel is a mountain and ski area in the Alps, in Tyrol in western Austria, 7 km (4 mi.) south of Innsbruck. The peak rises to a summit elevation of above sea level. The town of Igls at its northwest base is at , a vertical drop ...
on Thursday, 30 January. The defending
world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
was
Karl Schranz Karl Schranz (born 18 November 1938) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria, one of the best of the 1960s and early 1970s. Born and raised in St. Anton, Tyrol, Schranz had a lengthy ski racing career, from 1957 to 1972. He won tw ...
of Austria, and defending
Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
champion
Jean Vuarnet Jean Raoul Célina André Vuarnet (18 January 1933 – 1 January 2017) was an Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer from France. An Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics, Olympic gold medalist, he is known for inventing the "Tuck" skiing position ...
of France had retired from competition. The race course had a number of casualties during training runs, including the death of Ross Milne of
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, which led to a label of "Course of Fear." Zimmermann was favored by many to win the downhill and to the delight of the Austrian fans he won by 0.74 seconds. The starting gate was at an
elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...
of , and the vertical drop was . The course length was and Zimmerman's winning run resulted in an average speed of , with an average vertical descent rate of . Following the victory, Zimmerman was featured on the cover of ''
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'' in the United States. A dozen years later in
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
,
Franz Klammer Franz Klammer (born 3 December 1953) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria. He dominated the downhill event for four consecutive World Cup seasons (1975– 78). He was the gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, ...
raced on a slightly shorter course (by ) and shaved more than 32 seconds off of Zimmerman's time to famously win the Olympic downhill.


Results

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References


External links


FIS results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alpine skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics - Men's downhill
1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...
Men's alpine skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics
Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...