 The defending Olympic champion was Antoine Dénériaz of France and the reigning world champion was John Kucera of Canada; neither competed as Dénériaz had retired and Kucera was out for the season with a broken leg.Austrian Michael Walchhofer was the defending World Cup downhill champion and Didier Cuche of Switzerland led the current season, ahead of teammate Carlo Janka and Walchhofer.Switzerland's Didier Défago won the gold medal, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway took the silver, and the bronze medalist was Bode Miller of the United States; Cuche was sixth, Walchhofer tenth, and Janka eleventh.