Alpine skiing at the 1976 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill vertical drop was . The course length was and Klammer's famous winning run resulted in an average speed of , with an average vertical descent rate of . The win elevated him to an international celebrity and he was featured on the cover of "Sports Illustrated." Egon Zimmermann, also of Austria, took the gold medal a dozen years earlier in the 1964 Olympic downhill. His winning time was 2:18.16, more than a half minute behind Klammer's. Source: Alpine skiing at the 1976 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill The Men's Downhill competition of the 1976 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria, was
Germany at the Winter Olympics which were no separate contests yet. German athletes won Gold and Silver in both the men's and women's combined, for a 2nd rank overall. The 1940 Winter Olympics were to be held in Sapporo, but Japan withdrew in 1938 due to the Second Sino-Japanese War. In June 1939, Garmisch-Partenkirchen was selected again, but three months later World War II broke out and the 1940 Winter Games were cancelled in November 1939. The 1944 Winter Olympics did not take place either. For the 1948 Winter Olympics, with the war in recent memory, Germany (and Japan) was not invited as it had