Olympic Men's Alpine Skiing Results 2018: Thomas Dressen Wins Combined Downhill

Thomas Dressen gained an early edge in the men's Alpine combined event, finishing first in the combined downhill on Tuesday in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The German finished the course in one minute, 19.24 seconds, just 0.07 seconds ahead of Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal.

Inclement weather has been a storyline throughout the Olympics, with multiple events delayed and qualifying canceled completely in some instances. Tuesday's downhill wasn't immune to the problem, with race officials using the starting gate reserved for the super-G, thus shortening the course somewhat.

Dressen got off to a slow start, with his time through the first intermediate (14.80) the 17th-best of the competition. He quickly recovered, seeing his speed climb from 105.67 km/h in the first intermediate to 108.44 km/h in the second.

Dressen maintained that speed through the third intermediate until reaching the finish line.

The good news for skiers further down the leaderboard is that the slalom can more than make up for an underwhelming downhill run.

Sandro Viletta won gold in the men's super combined at the 2014 Winter Olympics despite placing 14th in the downhill. Four years earlier, Bode Miller rebounded from a seventh-place finish in the downhill to earn the only Olympic gold of his career.

The New York Times' Bill Pennington believes Marcel Hirscher is primed for a big jump up the leaderboard when the slalom competition begins:

Hirscher finished first in the slalom in six of his last seven FIS World Cup events. The fact he's only in 12th place will be of little comfort for Dressen.

Four Americans took part in the combined downhill, with Ryan Cochran-Siegle the only one of the four who failed to finish the course. Jared Goldberg is the top U.S. skier so far. His time of 1:20.02 has him in ninth place. Ted Ligety, who won the gold medal in Alpine combined in 2006, is in 26th place.