1956 Winter Olympics / Nordic skiing

Nordic skiing at the VII Olympic Winter Games
information
venue	Cortina d'Ampezzo
Competition venue	Stadio della neve Trampolino Italia
Nations	19th
Athletes	223 (40 women and 183 men)
date	January 27 - February 5, 1956
decisions	8th
← Oslo 1952 Squaw Valley 1960 →

At the VII Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956 , eight competitions were held in Nordic skiing . These were also considered the 21st Nordic World Ski Championships . In addition to Olympic medals, world championship medals were also awarded. The only exception was the Nordic Combined, in which there were only Olympic medals. The venues were the Stadio della Neve and the Trampolino Italia . The women's 3 × 5 km relay was added to the competition program. As with the Nordic World Ski Championships , the length of the shortest cross-country race for men has been reduced from 18 to 15 km and 30 km cross-country skiing has been added as an additional discipline. For the first time since 1930, Nordic Combined cross-country skiing was held separately, not together with the specialists.

For the first time at the Olympic Winter Games , athletes from the Soviet Union took part and an all-German team also appeared here for the first time. For the latter, Harry Glaß from the GDR won a bronze medal in ski jumping. As in the 1954 World Championships, the Soviet athletes were at the forefront in the cross-country skiing races and were in second place behind Finland in the final medal table . As usual, most of the other medals went to the other two Scandinavian countries, Norway and Sweden . In addition to the all-German team, only Poland were among the medal winners with a third place.

Balance sheet

Medal table

space	country				total
1	Finland	3	3	-	6th
2	Soviet Union	2	2	3	7th
3	Norway	2	-	-	2
4th	Sweden	1	3	3	7th
5	Germany	-	-	1	1
	Poland	-	-	1	1

Medalist

Cross-country men

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
15 km	Hallgeir Brenden	Sixten Jernberg	Pavel Kolchin
30 km	Veikko Hakulinen	Sixten Jernberg	Pavel Kolchin
50 km	Sixten Jernberg	Veikko Hakulinen	Fyodor Terentiev
4 × 10 km relay	Nikolai Anikin , Pawel Kolchin , Vladimir Kusin , Fyodor Terentjew	Veikko Hakulinen , August Kiuru , Jorma Kortelainen , Arvo Viitanen	Sixten Jernberg , Lennart Larsson , Per-Erik Larsson , Gunnar Samuelsson

Cross-country women

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
10 km	Lyubov Kozyreva	Radja Yeroshina	Sonja Edström
3 × 5 km relay	Mirja Hietamies , Sirkka Polkunen , Siiri Rantanen	Radja Jeroschina , Alewtina Kolchina , Lyubow Kosyrewa	Sonja Edström , Anna-Lisa Eriksson , Irma Johansson

Ski jumping

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
Normal hill	Antti Hyvärinen	Aulis Kallakorpi	Harry Glass

Nordic combination

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
singles	Sverre Stenersen	Bengt Eriksson	Franciszek Gąsienica Groń

Cross-country men

15 km

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	NOR	Hallgeir Brenden	49:39
2	SWE	Sixten Jernberg	50:14
3	URS	Pavel Kolchin	50:17
4th	FIN	Veikko Hakulinen	50:31
5	NOR	Håkon Brusveen	50:36
6th	NOR	Martin Stokken	50:45
7th	URS	Nikolai Anikin	50:58
8th	SWE	Lennart Larsson	51:03
9	FIN	Arvo Viitanen	51:10
10	URS	Vladimir Cousin	51:36
20th	SUI	Werner Zwingli	53:40
27	EUA	Cuno Werner	54:18
28	AUT	Josef Schneeberger	54:21
29	EUA	Siegfried Weiss	54:29
31	EUA	Rudi Kopp	54:31
33	SUI	Viktor Kronig	54:43
35	AUT	Karl Rafreider	54: 5?
36	SUI	Michel Rey	55:06
38	SUI	Erwin Hari	55:07
39	AUT	Hermann Mayr	55:51
46	EUA	Helmut Hagg	56:50
59	AUT	Oskar Schulz	59:56

Date: January 30, 1956, 9:00 a.m.
62 participants from 20 countries, 61 of them in the valuation.
Difference in altitude: 230 m; Maximum ascent: 135 m; Total ascent: 415 m

30 km

space	country	athlete	Time (h)
1	FIN	Veikko Hakulinen	1:44:06
2	SWE	Sixten Jernberg	1:44:30
3	URS	Pavel Kolchin	1:45:45
4th	URS	Anatoly Schelyukhin	1:45:46
5	URS	Vladimir Cousin	1:46:09
6th	URS	Fyodor Terentiev	1:46:43
7th	SWE	Per-Erik Larsson	1:46:51
8th	SWE	Lennart Larsson	1:46:56
9	FIN	Olavi Latsa	1:47:30
10	TCH	Ilya Matouš	1:48:12
25th	SUI	Marcel Huguenin	1:54:36
27	SUI	Fritz Kocher	1:55:18
30th	EUA	Hermann Mochel	1:56:34
33	EUA	Erich Lindenlaub	1:58:30
34	SUI	André Huguenin	1:58:40
40	EUA	Werner Moring	2:00:55
41	SUI	Armand Genoud	2:01:05

Date: January 27, 1956, 9:00 a.m.
54 participants from 18 countries, 51 of them in the ranking.
Difference in altitude: 250 m; Maximum ascent: 150 m; Total ascent: 805 m

50 km

space	country	athlete	Time (h)
1	SWE	Sixten Jernberg	2:50:27
2	FIN	Veikko Hakulinen	2:51:45
3	URS	Fyodor Terentiev	2:53:32
4th	FIN	Eero Kolehmainen	2:56:17
5	URS	Anatoly Schelyukhin	2:56:40
6th	URS	Pavel Kolchin	2:58:00
7th	URS	Viktor Baranov	3:03:55
8th	FIN	Antti Sivonen	3:04:06
9	FIN	Veini continents	3:06:15
10	SWE	Stubborn Grahn	3:06:32
18th	SUI	Christian Werner	3:17:49
19th	SUI	Fritz Zurbuchen	3:19:42
20th	EUA	Werner Moring	3:20:32
24	SUI	Alfred Kronig	3:23:21
27	SUI	André Huguenin	3:31:04

Date: February 2, 1956, 8:00 a.m.
33 participants from 13 countries, 30 of them in the ranking.
Difference in altitude: 250 m; Maximum ascent: 150 m; Total ascent: 1300 m

4 × 10 km relay

space	Country / athlete	time
1	Soviet Union Fyodor Terentjew Pawel Kolchin Nikolai Anikin Vladimir Kusin	2:15:30 h 33:25 min 33:05 min 34:23 min 34:37 ​​min
2	Finland August Kiuru Jorma Kortelainen Arvo Viitanen Veikko Hakulinen	2:16:31 h 34:56 min 34:20 min 33:34 min 33:41 min
3	Sweden Lennart Larsson Gunnar Samuelsson Per-Erik Larsson Sixten Jernberg	2:17:42 h 35:46 min 34:22 min 33:50 min 33:44 min
4th	Norway Håkon Brusveen Per Olsen Martin Stokken Hallgeir Brenden	2:21:16 h 35:13 min 36:41 min 34:47 min 34:35 min
5	Italy Pompeo Fattor Ottavio Compagnoni Innocenzo Chatrian Federico De Florian	2:23:28 h 35:43 min 34:55 min 35:59 min 36:51 min
6th	France Victor Arbez René Mandrillon Benoît Carrara Jean Mermet	2:24:06 h 36:51 min 36:14 min 35:18 min 35:43 min
7th	Switzerland Werner Zwingli Victor Kronig Fritz Kocher Marcel Huguenin	2:24:30 h 36:24 min 36:50 min 35:17 min 35:59 min
8th	Czechoslovakia Emil Okuliar Vlastimil Melich Josef Prokes Ilja Matouš	2:24:54 h 37:02 min 36:11 min 36:13 min 35:28 min
10	Germany Cuno Werner Siegfried Weiß Rudi Kopp Hermann Möchel	2:26:37 h 36:19 min 37:21 min 36:35 min 36:22 min
11	Austria Hermann Mayr Josef Schneeberger Karl Rafreider Oskar Schulz	2: 30.50 h 35:26 min 38:37 min 39:09 min 37:38 min

Date: February 4, 1956, 9:00 a.m.
14 relays at the start, all in the ranking.
Difference in altitude: 96 m; Maximum ascent: 86 m; Total ascent: 275 m

Cross-country women

10 km

space	country	sportswoman	Time (min)
1	URS	Lyubov Kozyreva	38:11
2	URS	Radja Yeroshina	38:16
3	SWE	Sonja Edström	38:23
4th	URS	Alevtina Kolchina	38:46
5	FIN	Siiri Rantanen	39:40
6th	FIN	Mirja Hietamies	40:18
7th	SWE	Irma Johansson	40:20
8th	FIN	Sirkka Polkunen	40:25
9	URS	Anna Kaaleste	40:29
10	NOR	Kjellfrid Brusveen	40:38
20th	EUA	Sonnhilde house sign	42:22
21st	EUA	Else Amann	42:22
26th	EUA	Elfriede Uhlig	43:15
29	EUA	Rita Czech-Blasel	43:51

Date: January 28, 1956, 10:00 a.m.
40 participants from 11 countries, 39 of them in the evaluation.
Difference in altitude: 90 m; Maximum ascent: 74 m; Total ascent: 250 m

3 × 5 km relay

space	Country / athletes	time
1	Finland Sirkka Polkunen Mirja Hietamies Siiri Rantanen	1:09:01 h 23:22 min 22:20 min 23:19 min
2	Soviet Union Lyubov Kosyrewa Alewtina Kolchina Radja Jeroschina	1:09:28 h 22:58 min 22:38 min 23:52 min
3	Sweden Irma Johansson Anna-Lisa Eriksson Sonja Edström	1:09:48 h 24:10 min 23:36 min 22:02 min
4th	Norway Kjellfrid Brusveen Gina Regland-Sigstad squeegee election	1:10:50 h 23:42 min 24:03 min 23:05 min
5	Poland Maria Gąsienica Bukowa Józefa Czerniawska Zofia Krzeptowska	1:13:20 h 24:30 min 24:10 min 24:40 min
6th	Czechoslovakia Eva Paulusová Libuše Patočková Eva Lauermanová	1:14:19 h 26:23 min 24:05 min 23:51 min
7th	Germany Elfriede Uhlig Else Amann Sonnhilde house sign	1:15:33 h 25:11 min 25:11 min 25:11 min
8th	Italy Fides Romanin Rita Bottero Ildegarda Taffra	1:16:11 h 25:44 min 25:23 min 25:04 min
9	Yugoslavia Amalija Belaj Biserka Vodenlič Nada Kustec	1:18:54 h 26:38 min 26:39 min 25:37 min
	Romania Iuliana Simon Ștefania Botcariu Elena Zangor	DSQ

Date: February 1, 1956, 9:30 a.m.
10 relays at the start, 9 of them in the classification.
Difference in altitude: 85 m; Maximum ascent: 74 m; Total ascent: 174 m

Ski jumping

Normal hill

→ Main article : 1956 Winter Olympics / Ski jumping

space	country	athlete	Points
1	FIN	Antti Hyvärinen	227.0
2	FIN	Aulis Kallakorpi	225.0
3	EUA	Harry Glass	224.5
4th	EUA	Max Bolkart	222.5
5	SWE	Sven Pettersson	220.0
6th	SUI	Andreas Däscher	219.5
7th	FIN	Eino Kirjonen	219.0
8th	EUA	Werner Lesser	210.0
9	NOR	Sverre Stallvik	208.0
10	FIN	Hemmo Silvennoinen	207.5

Date: February 5, 1956, 11:00 a.m.
51 participants from 16 countries, all rated.

Nordic combination

Individual (normal hill / 15 km)

space	country	athlete	Points jumping	Points running	points total
1	NOR	Sverre Stenersen	215.0	240,000	455,000
2	SWE	Bengt Eriksson	214.0	223,400	437,400
3	POLE	Franciszek Gąsienica Groń	203.0	233.8	436,800
4th	FIN	Paavo Korhonen	196.5	239.097	435,597
5	NOR	Arne Barhaugen	199.0	236,581	435,581
6th	NOR	Tormod Knutsen	203.0	232,000	435,000
7th	URS	Nikolai Gusakov	200.0	232,300	432,300
8th	ITA	Alfred Prucker	201.0	230.100	431,100
9	FIN	Eeti Nieminen	206.0	224,400	430,400
10	URS	Leonid Fyodorov	201.0	228,500	429,500
11	AUT	Josef Schiffner	211.5	217,800	429,300
16	AUT	Willi Egger	208.0	214.100	422,100
17th	AUT	Leopold Kohl	198.5	221,800	420,300
19th	EUA	Helmut Böck	190.0	228.700	418,700
21st	EUA	Heinz Hauser	195.0	222,900	417,900
24	EUA	Gerhard Glass	203.5	209,100	412,600
28	EUA	Herbert Leonhardt	177.0	219,600	396,600

Date: January 29, 1956, 2:30 p.m. (ski jumping) / January 31, 1956, 9:00 a.m. (cross-country skiing)
33 participants from 13 countries, 31 of them in the ranking. Difference in altitude: 185 m; Maximum ascent: 150 m; Total ascent: 420 m
36 participants from 12 countries, all in the rating.

literature

• Cross-country skiing at the Olympic Winter Games: List of Olympic champions in cross-country skiing. Edited by the Bucher Group, General Books Verlag, 2010, 188 pages.

Web links

• Cross-country skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Ski jumping at the 1956 Winter Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Nordic combined at the 1956 Winter Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Official report of the 1956 Winter Olympics (PDF; 25.7 MB)