Alpine skiing at the 1948 Winter Olympics

At the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the six alpine skiing events were held on Piz Nair from Monday, 2 February to Thursday, 5 February 1948.^[1][2]

Alpine Skiing at the V Olympic Winter Games
St. Moritz sixty years later, in 2008
Venue	Piz Nair, St. Moritz Graubünden, Switzerland
Dates	2–5 February 1948
Competitors	174 from 25 nations
← 1936 1952 →

After these games, the giant slalom was added and the combined event was dropped as an Olympic medal event for four decades, until 1988. From 1956 through 1980, the combined continued as an FIS medal event for the concurrent World Championships, using the results from three events, conducted as a "paper race."

Henri Oreiller of France earned a medal in all three events, with two golds and a bronze. Trude Beiser of Austria and Gretchen Fraser of the United States both won two medals, a gold and a silver each.

The first Olympics after World War II did not invite Germany or Japan.

Medal summary

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Downhill details	Henri Oreiller  France	2:55.0	Franz Gabl  Austria	2:59.1	Rolf Olinger  Switzerland Karl Molitor  Switzerland	3:00.3
Slalom details	Edy Reinalter  Switzerland	2:10.3	James Couttet  France	2:10.8	Henri Oreiller  France	2:12.8
Combined details	Henri Oreiller  France	3.27	Karl Molitor  Switzerland	6.44	James Couttet  France	6.95

Source:^[1]

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Downhill details	Hedy Schlunegger  Switzerland	2:28.3	Trude Beiser  Austria	2:29.1	Resi Hammerer  Austria	2:30.2
Slalom details	Gretchen Fraser  United States	1:57.2	Antoinette Meyer  Switzerland	1:57.7	Erika Mahringer  Austria	1:58.0
Combined details	Trude Beiser  Austria	6.58	Gretchen Fraser  United States	6.95	Erika Mahringer  Austria	7.04

Source:^[1]

Medal table

St. Moritz

Location in Switzerland

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Switzerland	2	2	2	6
2	France	2	1	2	5
3	Austria	1	2	3	6
4	United States	1	1	0	2
Totals (4 entries)		6	6	7	19

Source:^[1]

Participating nations

A total of 174 alpine skiers from 25 nations competed at the St. Moritz Games:

•  Argentina (6)
•  Austria (14)
•  Belgium (2)
•  Bulgaria (2)
•  Canada (5)
•  Chile (4)
•  Czechoslovakia (6)
•  Finland (2)
•  France (13)
•  Great Britain (14)
•  Greece (2)
•  Hungary (7)
•  Iceland (3)
•  Italy (8)
•  Lebanon (2)
•  Liechtenstein (6)
•  Norway (11)
•  Poland (5)
•  Romania (7)
•  Spain (8)
•  Sweden (6)
•  Switzerland (16)
•  Turkey (4)
•  United States (13)
•  Yugoslavia (8)

Course information

Date	Race	Start Elevation	Finish Elevation	Vertical Drop	Course Length	Average Gradient
Mon 2 Feb	Downhill – men	2,700 m (8,858 ft)	1,870 m (6,135 ft)	830 m (2,723 ft)	3.371 km (2.095 mi)	24.6%
Mon 2 Feb	Downhill – women	2,394 m (7,854 ft)	1,870 m (6,135 ft)	524 m (1,719 ft)	2.135 km (1.327 mi)	24.5%
Thu 5 Feb	Slalom – men	2,090 m (6,857 ft)	1,870 m (6,135 ft)	220 m (722 ft)
Thu 5 Feb	Slalom – women	2,050 m (6,726 ft)	1,870 m (6,135 ft)	180 m (591 ft)
Wed 4 Feb	Slalom – (K) – men	2,090 m (6,857 ft)	1,870 m (6,135 ft)	220 m (722 ft)
Wed 4 Feb	Slalom – (K) – women	2,050 m (6,726 ft)	1,870 m (6,135 ft)	220 m (722 ft)

Participating nations

Twenty-five nations sent alpine skiers to compete. Despite being a part of the Axis until 1943, Italy was invited; Germany and Japan were excluded.

Argentina  Austria  Belgium  Bulgaria  Canada

Chile  Czechoslovakia  Finland  France  Great Britain

Greece  Hungary  Iceland  Italy  Lebanon

Liechtenstein  Norway  Poland  Romania  Spain

Sweden  Switzerland  Turkey  United States  Yugoslavia