[1] Beat Feuz of Switzerland was the champion, Johan Clarey of France was the silver medalist, and Matthias Mayer of Austria took the bronze.

The 2018 Olympic champion, Aksel Lund Svindal, retired from competitive skiing.

Prior to the Olympics, eight World Cup downhill events were held: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was leading the ranking, followed by Feuz, Mayer (2014 downhill and 2018 Super-G Olympic champion), and Marco Odermatt.

The event was scheduled for Sunday, 6 February, but was postponed one day due to strong winds.

At the starting gate, the skies were partly cloudy, the temperature was −13.4 °C (8 °F), and the snow condition was hard packed.