Alpine skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics – Women's downhill explained

The women's downhill event of the 1956 Winter Olympics at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, was held on Mt. Tofana on Wednesday, 1 February.

The Swiss took the top two spots as Madeleine Berthod won the gold and Frieda Dänzer took the silver; Lucile Wheeler of Canada was the bronze medalist. Forty-four women from sixteen countries finished the race.^{[1] [2] [3]}

The race was held on the Canalone piste, with a starting elevation of 2114m (6,936feet) above sea level with a vertical drop of 502m (1,647feet); the course length was 1.552km (00.964miles).^[3] Berthoud's winning time of 100.7 seconds yielded an average speed of 55.484km/h, with an average vertical descent rate of 4.985m/s.

Results

Wednesday, 1 February 1956
The race was started at 11:30 local time, (UTC+1). At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was, and the snow condition was hard.

Rank	Bib	Competitor	Time	Difference
	6		1:40.7	—
	20		1:45.4	+4.7
	4		1:45.9	+5.2
4	12		1:47.3	+6.6
4	15		1:47.3	+6.6
6	1		1:47.7	+7.0
7	21		1:47.9	+7.2
8	18		1:49.2	+8.5
9	7		1:49.5	+8.8
10	28		1:49.6	+8.9
11	26		1:49.7	+9.0
12	22		1:50.6	+9.9
13	23		1:51.0	+10.3
14	51		1:51.1	+10.4
15	30		1:51.6	+10.9
15	32		1:51.6	+10.9
17	10		1:51.7	+11.0
18	29		1:51.8	+11.1
19	11		1:51.9	+11.2
20	16		1:52.3	+11.6
21	14		1:52.4	+11.7
22	37		1:53.2	+12.5
22	31		1:53.2	+12.5
24	25		1:53.6	+12.9
25	2		1:54.0	+13.3
26	39		1:54.3	+13.6
27	9		1:54.4	+13.7
28	41		1:54.5	+13.8
29	13		1:54.7	+14.0
30	5		1:55.2	+14.5
31	52		1:57.2	+16.5
32	19		1:57.8	+17.1
33	53		1:58.2	+17.5
34	47		1:58.9	+18.2
35	50		1:59.0	+18.3
36	40		1:59.2	+18.5
37	17		1:59.8	+19.1
38	55		2:01.5	+20.8
39	54		2:01.6	+20.9
40	46		2:04.0	+23.3
41	49		2:05.0	+24.3
42	38		2:08.0	+27.3
43	45		2:15.1	+34.4
44	48		2:27.7	+47.0
—	3		INJ
	8		INJ
	33		INJ

Source:^[3]

See also

• 1956 Winter Olympics

References

• Book: Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano . Italian National Olympic Committee . VII Olympic Winter Games: Official Report . 1956 . Cortina d'Ampezzo . PDF . 2010-03-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101102143039/http://la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1956/orw1956.pdf . 2010-11-02 . dead .

Notes and References

1. Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (1956), p. 596
2. Web site: Alpine Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Women's Downhill . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417224036/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/1956/ASK/womens-downhill.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 25 February 2018 . sports-reference.com.
3. https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll8/id/12456/rec/25 Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (1956)