Alpine skiing at the 1998 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill
The Men's Downhill competition of the Nagano 1998 Olympics was held at Hakuba on Friday, February 13. Originally scheduled for Sunday, the race was postponed several times due to heavy snow, followed by rain and gusty winds.
The reigning world champion was Bruno Kernen of Switzerland, while France's Luc Alphand was the reigning World Cup downhill champion, but had since retired from competition. The defending Olympic champion was Tommy Moe of the United States.
France's Jean-Luc Crétier won the gold medal, Lasse Kjus of Norway took the silver, and the bronze medalist was Hannes Trinkl of Austria; Moe was twelfth and Kernan did not finish. Nine of the first twenty failed to finish, including a spectacular crash by favorite Hermann Maier of Austria, which he fortunately walked away from. Luca Cattaneo's injury caused a half-hour delay underneath the clear skies, as the temperature at the finish approached. Of the eight with bib numbers 13 through 20, only Moe completed the race; in total, fifteen of the 43 racers did not finish.
It was the sole victory of Crétier's career; he had five World cup podiums, three of which were in the two months preceding the Olympics, at the notable venues of Beaver Creek, Wengen, and Kitzbühel. Entering the Olympics, he was fourth in the season's World Cup downhill standings.
The course started at an elevation of above sea level with a vertical drop of and a course length of. Crétier's winning time was 110.11 seconds, yielding an average course speed of, with an average vertical descent rate of.
Results
The race was started at 11:00 local time,. At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was, and the snow condition was hard; the temperature at the finish at.| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Behind |
| 3 | Jean-Luc Crétier | 1:50.11 | — | ||
| 10 | Lasse Kjus | 1:50.51 | +0.40 | ||
| 8 | Hannes Trinkl | 1:50.63 | +0.52 | ||
| 4 | 24 | Jürg Grünenfelder | 1:50.64 | +0.53 | |
| 5 | 25 | Ed Podivinsky | 1:50.71 | +0.60 | |
| 6 | 7 | Kristian Ghedina | 1:50.76 | +0.65 | |
| 7 | 5 | Andreas Schifferer | 1:50.77 | +0.66 | |
| 8 | 9 | Didier Cuche | 1:50.91 | +0.80 | |
| 9 | 26 | Kyle Rasmussen | 1:51.09 | +0.98 | |
| 10 | 23 | Patrik Järbyn | 1:51.22 | +1.11 | |
| 11 | 2 | Fritz Strobl | 1:51.34 | +1.23 | |
| 12 | 17 | Tommy Moe | 1:51.43 | +1.32 | |
| 13 | 11 | Kjetil André Aamodt | 1:51.72 | +1.61 | |
| 14 | 1 | Franco Cavegn | 1:51.74 | +1.63 | |
| 15 | 30 | Jason Rosener | 1:52.33 | +2.22 | |
| 16 | 12 | Werner Perathoner | 1:52.36 | +2.25 | |
| 17 | 21 | Tsuyoshi Tomii | 1:52.62 | +2.51 | |
| 18 | 33 | Andrey Filichkin | 1:52.65 | +2.54 | |
| 19 | 22 | Kevin Wert | 1:52.67 | +2.56 | |
| 20 | 31 | Jernej Koblar | 1:52.79 | +2.68 | |
| 21 | 36 | Enis Bećirbegović | 1:53.47 | +3.36 | |
| 22 | 43 | Andrzej Bachleda-Curuś | 1:53.62 | +3.51 | |
| 23 | 35 | Graham Bell | 1:53.93 | +3.82 | |
| 24 | 38 | Vasily Bezsmelnitsyn | 1:54.27 | +4.16 | |
| 25 | 37 | Linas Vaitkus | 1:56.22 | +6.11 | |
| 26 | 39 | Nils Linneberg | 1:56.59 | +6.48 | |
| 27 | 42 | Patrick-Paul Schwarzacher-Joyce | 1:58.71 | +8.60 | |
| 28 | 41 | Rainer Grob | 1:58.75 | +8.64 | |
| 4 | Hermann Maier | ||||
| 6 | Nicolas Burtin | ||||
| 13 | Bruno Kernen | ||||
| 14 | Luca Cattaneo | ||||
| 15 | Peter Runggaldier | ||||
| 16 | Luke Sauder | ||||
| 18 | Aleš Brezavšček | ||||
| 19 | A J Kitt | ||||
| 20 | Brian Stemmle | ||||
| 27 | Adrien Duvillard | ||||
| 28 | Peter Pen | ||||
| 29 | Jürgen Hasler | ||||
| 32 | Andrew Freshwater | ||||
| 34 | Yasuyuki Takishita | ||||
| 40 | Thomás Grob |