Peter Mueller of Switzerland won the men’s downhill in 1985, and his Swiss teammates took five of the top ten places, inspiring the Aspen Times headline — “Swiss Blitz!” Mueller’s time shattered the course record, which he had set in 1982. American Bill Johnson, who won in 1984 and was apparently displeased by something about the course, threatened to boycott the downhill, but dismissed his threat later as a joke and placed 21st.

Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg won the giant slalom despite a cold drizzle, soggy course and flat light. Girardelli muscled past Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark and Switzerland’s Max Julen and Pirmin Zurbriggen to win the event.

The 1985 World Cup was shaken by a brief controversy. A ruling by the FIS that would have been adopted for the first time in Aspen, instituted a change in the manner of determining the starting order. The racers were adamantly against the change and a debate raged until moments before the races began. In the end, the FIS gave in to the racers, and the traditional criteria was upheld.