Women's downhill at the VII Olympic Winter Games
Alpine skiing
Venue	Mt. Tofana, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Date	1 February 1956
Competitors	44 from 16 nations
Winning time	1:40.7
Medalists
Madeleine Berthod  Switzerland Frieda Dänzer  Switzerland Lucile Wheeler  Canada

Alpine skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics
Downhill	men	women
Giant slalom	men	women
Slalom	men	women

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 2,114 m (6,936 ft) above sea level with a vertical drop of 502 m (1,647 ft); the course length was 1.552 km (0.96 mi).^[3] Berthoud's winning time of 100.7 seconds yielded an average speed of 55.484 km/h (34.5 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 4.985 m/s (16.4 ft/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 −8 °C (18 °F), and the snow condition was hard.

Rank	Bib	Competitor	Time	Difference
	6	Madeleine Berthod (SUI)	1:40.7	—
	20	Frieda Dänzer (SUI)	1:45.4	+4.7
	4	Lucile Wheeler (CAN)	1:45.9	+5.2
4	12	Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo (ITA)	1:47.3	+6.6
4	15	Hilde Hofherr (AUT)	1:47.3	+6.6
6	1	Carla Marchelli (ITA)	1:47.7	+7.0
7	21	Dorothea Hochleitner (AUT)	1:47.9	+7.2
8	18	Josette Nevière (FRA)	1:49.2	+8.5
9	7	Borghild Niskin (NOR)	1:49.5	+8.8
10	28	Gladys Werner (USA)	1:49.6	+8.9
11	26	Anna Pellissier (ITA)	1:49.7	+9.0
12	22	Trude Klecker (AUT)	1:50.6	+9.9
13	23	Josefine Frandl (AUT)	1:51.0	+10.3
14	51	Aleksandra Artyomenko (URS)	1:51.1	+10.4
15	30	Eivor Berglund (SWE)	1:51.6	+10.9
15	32	Rosmarie Reichenbach (SUI)	1:51.6	+10.9
17	10	Barbara Grocholska (POL)	1:51.7	+11.0
18	29	Ingrid Englund (SWE)	1:51.8	+11.1
19	11	Maria Kowalska (POL)	1:51.9	+11.2
20	16	Ossi Reichert (EUA)	1:52.3	+11.6
21	14	Marysette Agnel (FRA)	1:52.4	+11.7
22	37	Anne Heggtveit (CAN)	1:53.2	+12.5
22	31	Carlyn Kruger (CAN)	1:53.2	+12.5
24	25	Madeleine Front (FRA)	1:53.6	+12.9
25	2	Hedi Beeler (SUI)	1:54.0	+13.3
26	39	Inger Jorgensen (NOR)	1:54.3	+13.6
27	9	Astrid Sandvik (NOR)	1:54.4	+13.7
28	41	Slava Zupančič (YUG)	1:54.5	+13.8
29	13	Hannelore Glaser (EUA)	1:54.7	+14.0
30	5	Andrea Mead Lawrence (USA)	1:55.2	+14.5
31	52	Jakobína Jakobsdóttir (ISL)	1:57.2	+16.5
32	19	Sonja Sperl (EUA)	1:57.8	+17.1
33	53	Ginette Seguin (CAN)	1:58.2	+17.5
34	47	Penny Pitou (USA)	1:58.9	+18.2
35	50	Zandra Nowell (GBR)	1:59.0	+18.3
36	40	Vera Schenone (ITA)	1:59.2	+18.5
37	17	Yevgenya Sidorova (URS)	1:59.8	+19.1
38	55	Dorothy Surgenor (USA)	2:01.5	+20.8
39	54	Christine Davy (AUS)	2:01.6	+20.9
40	46	Magdalena Marotineanu (ROM)	2:04.0	+23.3
41	49	Renate Holmes (GBR)	2:05.0	+24.3
42	38	Vivi-Anne Wassdahl (SWE)	2:08.0	+27.3
43	45	Jeanne Sandford (GBR)	2:15.1	+34.4
44	48	Elena Epuran (ROM)	2:27.7	+47.0
—	3	Edith Bonlieu (FRA)	INJ
	8	Mirl Buchner (EUA)	INJ
	33	Maria Gąsienica Daniel-Szatkowska (POL)	INJ

Source:^[3]

See also

• List of IOC country codes
• 1956 Winter Olympics

Notes

References

• Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (1956). VII Olympic Winter Games: Official Report (PDF). Cortina d'Ampezzo. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-02. Retrieved 2010-03-02.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)