Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing
at the VIII Olympic Winter Games
Olympic runs of 1960
VenueSquaw Valley, California, United States
DatesFebruary 20–26, 1960
No. of events6
Competitors133 from 22 nations
← 1956
1964 →
Squaw Valley is located in USA West
Squaw Valley
Squaw Valley
 Squaw Valley is located in California
 Squaw Valley
 Squaw Valley

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, California, United States, consisted of six events. Competitions took place at Squaw Peak (Men's downhill), KT-22 (Women's downhill, Men's slalom and giant slalom), and Papoose Peak (Women's slalom and giant slalom).[1][2]

The 1960 Winter Games marked the last where race result times were recorded in tenths of a second; at the 1964 Winter Games, the race result times would be recorded in hundredths.

Medal summary

[edit]

Seven nations won medals in alpine skiing, with Switzerland leading the medal table, winning two golds. Austria won the most total medals with five, one gold, two silver, and two bronze. Austria's Ernst Hinterseer led the individual medal table, with one gold and one bronze. The top women's medalist was the United States' Penny Pitou with two silver medals, having lost giant slalom by a tenth of a second.

Medal table

[edit]
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Switzerland (SUI)2002
2 Austria (AUT)1225
3 United Team of Germany (EUA)1113
4 France (FRA)1023
5 Canada (CAN)1001
6 United States (USA)0303
7 Italy (ITA)0011
Totals (7 entries)66618

Source:[1]

Men's events

[edit]
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Downhill
details
Jean Vuarnet
 France
2:06.0 Hans-Peter Lanig
 United Team of Germany
2:06.5 Guy Périllat
 France
2:06.9
Giant slalom
details
Roger Staub
 Switzerland
1:48.3 Josef Stiegler
 Austria
1:48.7 Ernst Hinterseer
 Austria
1:49.1
Slalom
details
Ernst Hinterseer
 Austria
2:08.9 Hias Leitner
 Austria
2:10.3 Charles Bozon
 France
2:10.4

Source:[1]

Women's events

[edit]
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Downhill
details
Heidi Biebl
 United Team of Germany
1:37.6 Penny Pitou
 United States
1:38.6 Traudl Hecher
 Austria
1:38.9
Giant slalom
details
Yvonne Rüegg
 Switzerland
1:39.9 Penny Pitou
 United States
1:40.0 Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo
 Italy
1:40.2
Slalom
details
Anne Heggtveit
 Canada
1:49.6 Betsy Snite
 United States
1:52.9 Barbi Henneberger
 United Team of Germany
1:56.6

Source:[1]

Course information

[edit]
Date Race Start
Elevation
Finish
Elevation
Vertical
Drop
Course
Length
Average
Gradient
Mon 22-Feb  Downhill – men  2,707 m (8,881 ft)  1,949 m (6,394 ft)  758 m (2,487 ft)  3.095 km (1.923 mi) 24.5%
Sat 20-Feb  Downhill – women  2,447 m (8,028 ft)  1,894 m (6,214 ft)  553 m (1,814 ft)  1.828 km (1.136 mi) 30.3%
Sun 21-Feb  Giant slalom – men  2,447 m (8,028 ft)  1,894 m (6,214 ft)  553 m (1,814 ft)  1.800 km (1.118 mi) 30.7%
Tue 23-Feb  Giant slalom – women  2,276 m (7,467 ft)  1,894 m (6,214 ft)  382 m (1,253 ft)  1.300 km (0.808 mi) 29.4%
Wed 24-Feb  Slalom – men  2,110 m (6,923 ft)  1,894 m (6,214 ft)  216 m (709 ft)  0.590 km (0.367 mi) 36.6%
Fri 26-Feb  Slalom – women  2,080 m (6,824 ft)  1,894 m (6,214 ft)  186 m (610 ft)  0.480 km (0.298 mi) 38.8%

Participating nations

[edit]

Twenty-two nations sent alpine skiers to compete in the events in Squaw Valley, and South Korea made its Olympic alpine skiing debut. Below is a list of the competing nations; in parentheses are the number of competitors.[1]

World championships

[edit]

From 1948 through 1980, the alpine skiing events at the Winter Olympics also served as the World Championships, held every two years. With the addition of the giant slalom, the combined event was dropped for 1950 and 1952, but returned as a World Championship event in 1954 as a "paper race" which used the results from the three events. During the Olympics from 1956 through 1980, World Championship medals were awarded by the FIS for the combined event. The combined returned as a separate event at the World Championships in 1982 and at the Olympics in 1988.

Combined

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e "VIII Olympic Winter Games Squaw Valley, California 1960 - Final Report". California Olympic Commission. California State Printing Office. 1960. pp. 95–96. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  2. ^ "Alpine Skiing at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
[edit]
  • FIS-Ski.com – alpine skiing – 1960 Winter Olympics – Squaw Valley, USA