Alpine skiing at the 1988 Winter Olympics – Women's downhill
# 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. The race was delayed a day due to high winds on Thursday.

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.

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.

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:
