Alpine skiing at the 1972 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill


The Men's Downhill competition of the Sapporo 1972 Olympics was held at Mount Eniwa on Monday, February 7.
The defending world champion was Bernhard Russi of Switzerland, who was also the defending World Cup downhill champion, and Austria's Karl Schranz led the current season. Schranz was classified as a professional and banned from the Olympics.
Russi won the gold medal, teammate Roland Collombin took the silver, and Heini Messner of Austria won the bronze.
The starting gate was at an elevation of above sea level, with a vertical drop of. The course length was and Russi's winning run of 111.43 seconds resulted in an average speed of, with an average vertical descent rate of.

Results