Individual, Men

In 1988 Klaus Sulzenbacher had won the silver medal in this event, but since then he had been tough to beat, winning the overall World Cup in 1987-88 and 1989-90, placing second in 1988-89 and 1990-91, and finishing second at the 1991 World Championships. As the 1991-92 season started the Olympic gold looked to be a battle between him and Norway’s Fred Børre Lundberg, who had won the 1991 World Championships and led the 1990-91 World Cup season. No one was considering a French skier named Fabrice Guy, but when he won four the five World Cup events in 1991-92, he became a favorite, and would be helped by the hometown crowd. Guy was at his best in the ski race, and hoped to place high enough on the jumping hill to be in contention. But he did better than that. The jumping was won by Austria’s Klaus Ofner with 228.5 points, who had been third at the 1991 World Championships, but Guy placed third, with 222.1, giving him a starting deficit of only 42.7 seconds. But more importantly, he beat Sulzenbacher, who usually was at his best on the hill, but in Albertville posted 221.6 to start 3.3 seconds behind Guy. And Lundberg was even further back, starting 1:08.0 behind Guy.

In the ski race, Ofner was off first, but it was not his strength and he would finish only 21st in the skiing and fifth overall. Guy pulled away from Sulzenbacher in the first 5 km, and neither was ever challenged by Lundberg, as Guy skied to the gold medal. Sulzenbacher won the bronze, surprisingly outskied by Guy’s teammate, Sylvain Guillaume, who was third in the skiing and won the silver medal. Guillaume would not be heard of again at major internationals, while Guy would place third at the 1997 World Championships, and won the 1991-92 seasonal World Cup. Lundberg improved in the cross-country to finish fourth overall, but would come back to win the gold medal in Lillehammer.