Olympic Winter Games 1948 / Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing at the 1948 Winter Olympics
information
venue	St. Moritz
Competition venue	Corviglia
Nations	25th
Athletes	167 (127 , 40 )
date	2nd to 5th February 1948
decisions	6th
← Garmisch 1936 Oslo 1952 →

At the 5th Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz in 1948 , six competitions in alpine skiing took place. The venue for the races was the Corviglia winter sports area . In addition to the Olympic medals, the top three in downhill, slalom and combined also received world championship medals, as these competitions also counted as the 10th  Alpine World Ski Championships .

Balance sheet

Medal table

space	country				total
1	Switzerland	2	2	2	6th
2	France	2	1	2	5
3	Austria	1	2	3	6th
4th	United States	1	1	-	2
total		6th	6th	7th	19th

Medalist

Men competitor gold silver bronze Departure Henri Oreiller Franz Gabl Karl Molitor Ralph Olinger slalom Edy Reinalter James Couttet Henri Oreiller combination Henri Oreiller Karl Molitor James Couttet

Women competitor gold silver bronze Departure Hedy Schlunegger Trude Beiser Resi Hammerer slalom Gretchen Fraser Antoinette Meyer Erika Mahringer combination Trude Beiser Gretchen Fraser Erika Mahringer

Men

Departure

→ Main article : 1948 Winter Olympics / Alpine skiing - Downhill (men)

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	FRA	Henri Oreiller	2: 55.0
2	AUT	Franz Gabl	2: 59.1
3	SUI	Karl Molitor	3: 00.3
	SUI	Ralph Olinger
5	AUT	Egon Schöpf	3: 01.2
6th	ITA	Silvio Alverà	3: 02.4
	ITA	Carlo Gartner
8th	SUI	Fernand Grosjean	3: 03.1
9	AUT	Hans Nogler	3: 03.2
10	SWE	Hans Hansson	3: 05.0
11	SUI	Adolf Odermatt	3: 06.4
14th	AUT	Engelbert Haider	3: 08.2
15th	AUT	Eberhard Kneisl	3: 08.3
18th	SUI	Romedi Spada	3: 09.2
22nd	SUI	Edy Reinalter	3: 11.0
55	LIE	Franz Beck	3: 38.3
73	LIE	Max Gassner	3: 53.0
79	LIE	Leopold Schädler	4: 00.0
90	LIE	Theodor Sele	4: 24.1
99	LIE	Constantin of Liechtenstein	5: 04.1

Date: February 2, 10:00 a.m.
start: 2700 m, finish: 1870 m,
altitude difference: 830 m, route length: 3371 m

111 participants from 25 countries, 102 of them in the evaluation. The run also counted for the alpine combination.

The Swiss Karl Molitor , six-time winner of the Lauberhorn downhill, was one of the big favorites in the men's downhill. He drove a technically safe race and finished with a new best time. Shortly afterwards the Frenchman Henri Oreiller started . This mastered the difficulties of the steep slope without significant braking and in the meantime already led with five seconds, which he no longer allowed to the finish. The Austrian Franz Gabl managed to advance to second place and Ralph Olinger won a second bronze medal for Switzerland at the same time as Molitor. Couttet as one of the great favorites for the combination, who was known as a better slalom runner, was ranked 13th.

slalom

→ Main article : 1948 Winter Olympics / Alpine skiing - slalom (men)

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	SUI	Edy Reinalter	2: 10.3
2	FRA	James Couttet	2: 10.8
3	FRA	Henri Oreiller	2: 12.8
4th	ITA	Silvio Alverà	2: 13.2
5	SWE	Olle Dalman	2: 13.6
6th	AUT	Egon Schöpf	2: 14.2
7th	United States	Jack Reddish	2: 15.5
8th	SUI	Karl Molitor	2: 16.2
9	TCH	Luboš Brchel	2: 16.6
10	SWE	Sixten Isberg	2: 17.2
12	AUT	Edi Mall	2: 18.3
13	SUI	Georges Schneider	2: 18.4
17th	AUT	Engelbert Haider	2: 22.8

Date: February 5, 9:00 a.m.
Start: 2090 m, Finish: 1870 m
Difference in altitude: 220 m
Gates: 47 (1st run)

76 participants, 66 of them in the rating. Eliminated among others: Christian Pravda , Hans Hinterholzer both (AUT).

The best time in the first run was achieved by Silvio Alverà , closely followed by Frenchman James Couttet . After Karl Molitor was just under three seconds behind expectations, the Swiss hoped for Edy Reinalter , who achieved the third-best running time. Henri Oreiller was also close to the front, the rest of the field was clearly beaten in the first run. Oreiller was able to overtake Alverà in the second run and ultimately won bronze. After Couttet took the lead, Reinalter set the fastest time and won another gold medal for Switzerland. The Austrian Hans Hinterholzer fell, rolled over and flew into the audience.

combination

→ Main article : 1948 Winter Olympics / Alpine skiing - Alpine combination (men)

space	country	athlete	Points
1	FRA	Henri Oreiller	03.27
2	SUI	Karl Molitor	06.44
3	FRA	James Couttet	06.95
4th	AUT	Edi Mall	08.54
5	ITA	Silvio Alverà	08.71
6th	SWE	Hans Hansson	09.31
7th	ITA	Vittorio Chierroni	09.69
8th	AUT	Hans Nogler	09.96
9	TCH	Antonín Šponar	11.19
10	SUI	Edy Reinalter	12.01
11	AUT	Eberhard Kneisl	12.36
13	AUT	Engelbert Haider	13.26
15th	SUI	Adolf Odermatt	15.64
16	SUI	Fernand Grosjean	16.61
47	LIE	Franz Beck	48.37
50	LIE	Leopold Schädler	54.48
58	LIE	Theodor Sele	72.78
62	LIE	Max Gassner	76.56

Departure: February 2nd, 10:00 a.m.
Slalom: February 4th, 9:00 a.m.

79 participants, 67 of them in the ranking. The competition consisted of the downhill run, which was held together with the specialists, and a separate combination slalom.

In the men's combined slalom, the question arose whether Karl Molitor would be able to make up his five seconds deficit on downhill winner Henri Oreiller . However, he showed no exceptional performance and so Oreiller was able to secure his second gold medal with two safe drives. The Frenchman James Couttet , fastest in the combination slalom, came third in the alpine combination. The Austrian Edi Mall moved up with second place in the combined slalom to fourth place in the final ranking; Vittorio Chierroni (ITA) came third.

Women

Departure

→ Main article : 1948 Winter Olympics / Alpine skiing - Downhill (women)

space	country	sportswoman	Time (min)
1	SUI	Hedy Schlunegger	2: 28.3
2	AUT	Trude Beiser	2: 29.1
3	AUT	Resi Hammerer	2: 30.2
4th	ITA	Celina Seghi	2: 31.1
5	SUI	Lina Mittner	2: 31.2
6th	FRA	Suzanne Thiollière	2: 31.4
7th	NOR	Laila Schou Nilsen	2: 32.9
	FRA	Françoise Gignoux
9	SUI	Rosmarie Bleuer	2: 33.3
11	SUI	Antoinette Meyer	2: 35.4
14th	SUI	Irène Molitor	2: 37.2
16	AUT	Annelore Zückert	2: 38.4
17th	AUT	Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf	2: 39.0
19th	AUT	Erika Mahringer	2: 39.3
24	SUI	Olivia Ausoni	2: 45.1
26th	AUT	Sophie Nogler	2: 47.0

Date: February 2, 2:30 p.m.
Start: 2394 m, Finish: 1870 m
Difference in altitude: 524 m, route length: 2135 m

During downhill training on January 31, the Austrian Dagmar Rom had a hard fall and suffered a torn ligament, so that the season was over for her. 37 drivers were at the start, all of them reached the finish. The women's descent took place immediately after the men's race on the same route. However, 15 compulsory goals prevented excessive speeds and greater difficulties, so that it was actually a giant slalom.

The Austrian Trude Beiser was the first favorite to take the lead. Right behind her was the Swiss Hedy Schlunegger , who appeared as an outsider . This crashed at the entrance to the cannon barrel, but was able to continue the journey with little loss of time and reached the goal in a new record. Neither Resi Hammerer nor Celina Seghi or Laila Schou Nilsen came close to their time. With this, Schlunegger secured Switzerland’s first major alpine success. Two promising candidates for the combination, Georgette Thiollière (FRA) and May Nilsson (SWE), lost their chances due to falls .

slalom

→ Main article : 1948 Winter Olympics / Alpine skiing - slalom (women)

space	country	sportswoman	Time (min)
1	United States	Gretchen Fraser	1: 57.2
2	SUI	Antoinette Meyer	1: 57.7
3	AUT	Erika Mahringer	1: 58.0
4th	FRA	Georgette Thiollière	1: 58.8
5	SUI	Renée Clerc	2: 05.8
6th	AUT	Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf	2: 06.7
7th	AUT	Resi Hammerer	2: 08.6
8th	United States	Andrea Mead	2: 08.8
9	United States	Brynhild Grasmoen	2: 09.6
10	SWE	May Nilsson	2: 09.7
13	SUI	Rosmarie Bleuer	2: 10.6
17th	SUI	Olivia Ausoni	2: 18.6

Date: February 5, 10:00 a.m.
Start: 2050 m, Finish: 1870 m
Difference in altitude: 180 m
Gates: 35 (1st run)

28 participants from 25 countries, 24 of them in the evaluation.

After the first run, the American Gretchen Fraser , just ahead of Erika Mahringer from Austria, who also achieved a run time of less than a minute, led the ice-hard slope, which made great demands on the runners . The Swiss Antoinette Meyer and Georgette Thiollière from France were one second behind . The other drivers were clearly distanced. The decision was made at the beginning of the second run, when Fraser achieved a running time of 57.5 seconds with a technically clean run. This time was only undercut by Antoinette Meyer with 57.0 seconds, which brought the Swiss second place ahead of Erika Mahringer, who almost fell, but did not endanger the American's overall victory.

combination

→ Main article : Olympic Winter Games 1948 / Alpine skiing - Alpine combination (women)

space	country	sportswoman	Points
1	AUT	Trude Beiser	06.58
2	United States	Gretchen Fraser	06.95
3	AUT	Erika Mahringer	07.04
4th	ITA	Celina Seghi	07.46
5	FRA	Françoise Gignoux	08.14
6th	SUI	Rosmarie Bleuer	08.80
7th	AUT	Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf	09.76
8th	SUI	Hedy Schlunegger	10.20
9	TCH	Alexandra Nekvapilová	10.98
10	FRA	Lucienne Schmith	11.50
10	FRA	Suzanne Thiollière	11.50
12	AUT	Resi Hammerer	11.87
14th	SUI	Lina Mittner	12.54
26th	SUI	Olivia Ausoni	38.02

Departure: February 2, 2:30 p.m.
Slalom: February 4, 10 a.m.

28 participants, 27 of them in the evaluation. The competition consisted of the downhill run, which was held together with the specialists, and a separate combination slalom.

In contrast to the men, Hedy Schlunegger's lead in the descent and her ability in slalom were too low for a combination victory to appear possible. After the big favorite in the slalom, the Italian Celina Seghi , with 4th place below her usual performance, the Austrian Trude Beiser won the gold medal with the seventh best slalom time. Her teammate Erika Mahringer won the combined slalom and thus bronze in the overall ranking. Second place went unexpectedly to the American Gretchen Fraser , thanks to second place in the slalom. Third place in this combination slalom went to Schuh-Proxauf.

Web links

• Overview of all races in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Alpine skiing at the 1948 Winter Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz - Swiss Film Weekly

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Austrian successes in the descent . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 3, 1948, p. 4 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
2. ↑ ^{a b} "Edi Reinalter wins gold medal in special slalom ... Antoinette Mayer the silver". Sport Zurich, February 6, 1948, p. 2.
3. ↑ «Bad advice for men» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 5, 1948, p. 4 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
4. ^ Dagmar Rom out of action . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 1, 1948, p. 5 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
5. ↑ «The" Gretchen from America "» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 6, 1948, p. 4 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
6. ↑ "Two Austrian victories!" In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 5, 1948, p. 4 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
7. ↑ «Exciting combination slalom». Sport Zürich, February 5, 1948, pp. 1 and 2.