Alpine skiing at the 1988 Winter Olympics – Women's downhill

The Women's Downhill competition of the Calgary 1988 Olympics was held at Nakiska on Friday, February 19.^[1][2] The race was delayed a day due to high winds on Thursday.^[3]

Women's downhill at the XV Olympic Winter Games
Alpine skiing
Venue	Nakiska
Date	February 19, 1988
Competitors	35 from 14 nations
Winning time	1:25.86
Medalists
Marina Kiehl  West Germany Brigitte Oertli  Switzerland Karen Percy  Canada
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Women's downhill
Location	Nakiska
Vertical	647 m (2,123 ft)
Top elevation	2,179 m (7,149 ft)
Base elevation	1,532 m (5,026 ft)

The defending world champion was Maria Walliser of Switzerland, while teammate Michela Figini was the defending Olympic and World Cup downhill champion and led the current season.^[4][5]

West Germany's Marina Kiehl won the gold medal, Brigitte Oertli of Switzerland took silver, and Karen Percy of Canada was the bronze medalist; Walliser was fourth and Figini finished ninth.^[6]

The course started at an elevation of 2,179 m (7,149 ft) above sea level with a vertical drop of 647 m (2,123 ft) and a course length of 2.238 km (1.39 mi). Kiehl's winning time was 85.86 seconds, yielding an average speed of 93.836 km/h (58.3 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 7.536 m/s (24.7 ft/s).

Results

The race was started at 10:00 local time, (UTC −7). At the starting gate, the skies were partly cloudy, the temperature was −2 °C (28 °F), and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish was 4 °C (39 °F).

Rank	Bib	Name	Country	Time	Difference
	8	Marina Kiehl	West Germany	1:25.86	—
	12	Brigitte Oertli	Switzerland	1:26.61	+0.75
	6	Karen Percy	Canada	1:26.62	+0.76
4	4	Maria Walliser	Switzerland	1:26.89	+1.03
5	15	Laurie Graham	Canada	1:26.99	+1.13
6	5	Petra Kronberger	Austria	1:27.03	+1.17
7	10	Regine Mösenlechner	West Germany	1:27.16	+1.30
8	14	Elisabeth Kirchler	Austria	1:27.19	+1.33
9	9	Michela Figini	Switzerland	1:27.26	+1.40
10	24	Lucia Medzihradská	Czechoslovakia	1:27.28	+1.42
11	3	Chantal Bournissen	Switzerland	1:27.46	+1.60
12	20	Carole Merle	France	1:27.53	+1.67
13	1	Michaela Gerg	West Germany	1:27.83	+1.97
14	25	Emi Kawabata	Japan	1:27.85	+1.99
15	13	Kerrin Lee	Canada	1:28.07	+2.21
16	11	Golnur Postnikova	Soviet Union	1:28.23	+2.37
17	21	Claudine Emonet	France	1:28.36	+2.50
18	19	Edith Thys	United States	1:28.53	+2.67
19	27	Michaela Marzola	Italy	1:28.69	+2.83
20	26	Kristin Krone	United States	1:29.13	+3.27
21	23	Christina Meier-Höck	West Germany	1:29.30	+3.44
22	28	Wendy Lumby	Great Britain	1:29.76	+3.90
23	30	Sachiko Yamamoto	Japan	1:30.15	+4.29
24	22	Ludmila Milanová	Czechoslovakia	1:30.42	+4.56
25	29	Clare Booth	Great Britain	1:32.50	+6.64
26	32	Jolanda Kindle	Liechtenstein	1:32.88	+7.02
27	36	Carolina Eiras	Argentina	1:37.37	+11.51
28	34	Astrid Steverlynck	Argentina	1:41.64	+15.78
-	37	Mariela Vallecillo	Argentina	DNF	-
-	35	Mihaela Fera	Romania	DNF	-
-	33	Jacqueline Vogt	Liechtenstein	DNF	-
-	18	Hilary Lindh	United States	DNF	-
-	17	Anita Wachter	Austria	DNF	-
-	7	Kellie Casey	Canada	DNF	-
-	2	Sigrid Wolf	Austria	DNF	-
-	31	Ingrid Grant	Great Britain	DNS	-
-	16	Catherine Quittet	France	DNS	-
-		Pam Fletcher	United States	DNS	-

Source:^[1][3][6]