Norway's Lasse Kjus was four-tenths of a second back of Cretier to take second. The bronze medal went to Hannes Trinkl of Austria. Trinkl finished in 1 minute, 50.63 seconds.
Austrian favourite Hermann Maier got too close to a gate on an early jump, flew in the air at 70 m.p.h., flipped three to four times, crashed on his head and shoulder, and tumbled completely through two sets of safety nets before he got up and walked away. Amazingly, Maier was not hurt.
Italy's Luca Cattaneo flew off the same jump with one ski after the other ski broke away. Then, he slammed into the safety netting. The race was delayed for 25 minutes while Cattaneo was placed in a stretcher and lifted by a helicopter. Luckily, Cattaneo escaped with only an injured ankle.
Men's Downhill Final Results PLACE ATHLETE COUNTRY TIME ===== ======= ======= ==== 1 Jean-Luc Cretier France 1:50.11 2 Lasse Kjus Norway 1:50.51 3 Hannes Trinkl Austria 1:50.63 4 Juerg Gruenenfelder Switzerland 1:50.64 5 Ed Podivinsky Canada 1:50.71
02/13/98 Alpine Skiiing Men's Downhill, Patrick Jaebyn (SWE)
02/13/98 Men's Alpine Skiing Downhill - Jean-Luc Cretier (FRA) - gold
02/13/98 Alpine Skiing Men's Downhill, Jean-Luc Cretier - gold
He's back with vengeance!
Men's Super-G ...Hermann Maier of Austria dominated the men's super giant slalom. He easily won with a time of 1 minute, 34.82 seconds. Maier was back after his great crash in downhill, three days before the Super-G.
Didier Cuche of Switzerland and Hans Knauss of Austria both finished with the same time for silver medals. They tied with the time of 1 minute, 35.43 seconds.
The Super-G was postponed for two days due to snow and fog. The race was also delayed 45 minutes at the start due to fog.
Men's Super-G Final Results PLACE ATHLETE COUNTRY TIME ===== ======= ======= ==== 1 Hermann Maier Austria 1:34.82 2 Didier Cuche Switzerland 1:35.43 2 Hans Knauss Austria 1:35.43 4 Alessandro Fattori Italy 1:35.61 5 Kjetil Andre Aamodt Norway 1:35.67
Encore! Maier Cracking A Deux Foix!
Men's Giant Slalom ...Hermann Maier of Austria won the giant slalom event. He won both the first and second runs for a combined time of 2 minutes, 38.51 seconds. The Herminator was close to losing control several times on his second run but was still the fastest in that run.
Stefan Eberharter from Austria won the silver in 2 minutes, 39.36 seconds. Last year's World Champion, Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland, finished with a time of 2 minutes, 39.69 seconds to place third.
Austrian Hans Knauss trailed Von Gruenigen by only two hundredths of a second and finished fourth. Another Austrian, Christian Mayer made some bad mistakes on his second run to finish ninth after being second after the first run. Two-time Olympic gold medallist Alberto Tomba lost control only 18 seconds into his first run.
Men's Giant Slalom Final Results PLACE ATHLETE COUNTRY TIME ===== ======= ======= ==== 1 Hermann Maier Austria 2:38.51 2 Stefan Eberharter Austria 2:39.36 3 Michael von Gruenigen Switzerland 2:39.69 4 Hans Knauss Austria 2:39.71 5 Jure Kosir Slovenia 2:39.98
Visit Henry Lim's Nagano Website. Enter Here
02/08/98 Hermann Maier fans at Men's Downhill.
02/19/98 Men's Giant Slalom, Hermann Maier of Austria (right) - gold and Stefan Eberharter (left) - silver
Success!
Get the complete 1998 Nagano Olympics story at Henry Lim's own website designed and completed when he was 15 years old.