Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill
The Men's Downhill competition of the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid was held at Whiteface Mountain on Thursday,
The defending world champion was Josef Walcher of Austria, while Switzerland's Peter Müller was the defending World Cup downhill champion and led the 1980 World Cup.
Defending Olympic champion Franz Klammer did not compete; he was not selected to the Austrian Olympic team in 1980.
Gold medalist Leonhard Stock was an alternate on the Austrian downhill team, at the Olympics for the slalom. His fast training times earned him a spot on the four-man team, displacing Walcher, the reigning world champion. All four Austrians in the race finished in the top ten and Müller was fourth.
The course started at an elevation of above sea level with a vertical drop of and a length of. Stock's winning time was 105.50 seconds, yielding an average speed of, with an average vertical descent rate of.
Results
The race was started at 11:30 local time,. At the starting gate, the skies were broken overcast and snowing, the temperature was, wind speed was and the snow condition was hard packed.| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Difference |
| 9 | Leonhard Stock | 1:45.50 | - | ||
| 13 | Peter Wirnsberger | 1:46.12 | +0.62 | ||
| 15 | Steve Podborski | 1:46.62 | +1.12 | ||
| 4 | 10 | Peter Müller | 1:46.75 | +1.25 | |
| 5 | 23 | Pete Patterson | 1:47.04 | +1.54 | |
| 6 | 3 | Herbert Plank | 1:47.13 | +1.63 | |
| 7 | 12 | Werner Grissmann | 1:47.21 | +1.71 | |
| 8 | 19 | Valeri Tsyganov | 1:47.34 | +1.84 | |
| 9 | 1 | Harti Weirather | 1:47.70 | +2.20 | |
| 10 | 11 | Dave Murray | 1:47.95 | +2.45 | |
| 11 | 16 | Dave Irwin | 1:48.12 | +2.62 | |
| 12 | 27 | Konrad Bartelski | 1:48.53 | +3.03 | |
| 13 | 30 | Bohumír Zeman | 1:48.65 | +3.15 | |
| 14 | 25 | Phil Mahre | 1:48.88 | +3.38 | |
| 15 | 6 | Giuliano Giardini | 1:48.98 | +3.48 | |
| 16 | 21 | Andy Mill | 1:49.07 | +3.57 | |
| 17 | 5 | Erik Håker | 1:49.09 | +3.59 | |
| 18 | 17 | Urs Räber | 1:49.16 | +3.66 | |
| 19 | 26 | Arnt Erik Dale | 1:49.26 | +3.76 | |
| 20 | 20 | Andreas Wenzel | 1:49.71 | +4.21 | |
| 21 | 22 | Mikio Katagiri | 1:49.77 | +4.27 | |
| 22 | 4 | Vladimir Makeyev | 1:49.87 | +4.37 | |
| 23 | 2 | Michael Veith | 1:50.00 | +4.50 | |
| 24 | 7 | Erwin Josi | 1:50.03 | +4.53 | |
| 25 | 24 | Philippe Pugnat | 1:50.13 | +4.63 | |
| 26 | 28 | Antony Guss | 1:50.22 | +4.72 | |
| 27 | 29 | Francisco Fernández Ochoa | 1:50.69 | +5.19 | |
| 28 | 32 | Ross Blyth | 1:51.12 | +5.62 | |
| 29 | 31 | David Cargill | 1:52.02 | +6.52 | |
| 30 | 33 | Alan Stewart | 1:53.41 | +7.91 | |
| 31 | 36 | Norberto Quiroga | 1:54.31 | +8.81 | |
| 32 | 35 | Stuart Blakely | 1:55.41 | +9.91 | |
| 33 | 34 | Henri Mollin | 1:55.83 | +10.33 | |
| 34 | 37 | Didier Lamont | 1:57.57 | +12.07 | |
| 35 | 47 | Carlos Font | 1:57.81 | +12.31 | |
| 36 | 46 | Marcelo Martínez | 1:58.04 | +12.54 | |
| 37 | 38 | Janez Flere | 1:59.01 | +13.51 | |
| 38 | 43 | Guillermo Giumelli | 2:00.10 | +14.60 | |
| 39 | 39 | Miguel Font | 2:02.01 | +16.51 | |
| 40 | 41 | Hong In-gi | 2:03.08 | +17.58 | |
| 41 | 45 | Arturo Kinch | 2:12.24 | +26.74 | |
| 42 | 44 | Billy Farwig | 2:12.66 | +27.16 | |
| - | 40 | Patrick Toussaint | DNF | - | |
| - | 18 | Karl Anderson | DNF | - | |
| - | 14 | Ken Read | DNF | - | |
| - | 8 | Toni Bürgler | DNF | - | |
| - | 42 | Scott Alan Sánchez | DQ | - |
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