Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics – Women's downhill

The Women's downhill competition of the Squaw Valley 1960 Olympics was held at Squaw Valley on Saturday, February 20.[1][2]

Women's downhill
at the VIII Olympic Winter Games
VenueSquaw Valley
DateFebruary 20
Competitors42 from 14 nations
Winning time1:37.6
Medalists
Heidi Biebl  United Team of Germany
Penny Pitou  United States
Traudl Hecher  Austria
Alpine skiing at the
1960 Winter Olympics
Downhillmenwomen
Giant slalommenwomen
Slalommenwomen
Women's Downhill
LocationSquaw Valley – KT-22
Vertical   557 m (1,827 ft)
Top elevation2,447 m (8,028 ft)  
Base elevation1,894 m (6,214 ft)

The defending world champion was Lucille Wheeler of Canada,[3] who had retired the previous year; defending Olympic champion Madeleine Berthod of Switzerland did not compete in this event.

Nineteen-year-old Heidi Biebl of Germany won the gold medal, while American Penny Pitou was a second behind for the silver; the bronze medalist was Traudl Hecher of Austria.[4][5]

The race was run on KT-22, with a starting elevation of 2,447 m (8,028 ft) above sea level; the course length was 1.828 km (1.136 mi), with a vertical drop of 553 m (1,814 ft).[1] Biebl's winning time of 97.6 seconds yielded an average speed of 67.426 km/h (41.9 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 5.666 m/s (18.6 ft/s).

Helmets

This was the first Olympic downhill in which crash helmets were mandatory,[6] following the race death in 1959 of Canadian John Semmelink at Garmisch, West Germany.[7][8] During his final race, Semmelink wore a leather helmet, which was more protection than many racers used at the time.[6] The U.S. Ski Team first wore crash helmets at the 1956 Winter Olympics,[9] but most of the Europeans went without.[6][10]

Results

Saturday, February 20, 1960
The race was started at 10:00 local time, (UTC −8).

RankNameCountryTimeDifference
Heidi Biebl United Team of Germany1:37.6—
Penny Pitou United States1:38.6+1.0
Traudl Hecher Austria1:38.9+1.3
4Pia Riva Italy1:39.9+2.3
5Jerta Schir Italy1:40.5+2.9
6Anneliese Meggl United Team of Germany1:40.8+3.2
7Sonja Sperl United Team of Germany1:41.0+3.4
8Erika Netzer Austria1:41.1+3.5
9Yvonne Rüegg Switzerland1:41.6+4.0
Carla Marchelli Italy
11Barbi Henneberger United Team of Germany1:42.4+4.8
12Anne Heggtveit Canada1:42.9+5.3
Marit Haraldsen Norway
14Thérèse Leduc
Arlette Grosso		 France1:44.2+6.6
Jolanda Schir Italy
17Nancy Holland Canada1:45.2+7.6
18Marguerite Leduc France1:45.6+8.0
19Stalina Demidova-Korzukhina Soviet Union1:46.5+8.9
20Yevgeniya Kabina-Sidorova Soviet Union1:46.7+9.1
21Joan Hannah United States1:47.9+10.3
22Nancy Greene Canada1:48.3+10.7
23Lyubov Volkova Soviet Union1:49.2+11.6
24Marían Navarro Spain1:49.7+12.1
25Josephine Gibbs Great Britain1:50.3+12.7
26Margrit Gertsch Switzerland1:50.4+12.8
27Christine Davy Australia1:50.6+13.0
28Wendy Farrington Great Britain1:50.8+13.2
29María Cristina Schweizer Argentina1:51.0+13.4
30Liv Jagge-Christiansen Norway1:51.2+13.6
31Renate Holmes Great Britain1:51.9+14.3
32Elizabeth Greene Canada1:53.3+15.7
33Linda Meyers United States1:53.4+15.8
34Cecilia Womersley New Zealand1:59.5+21.9
35Liselotte Michel Switzerland2:01.0+23.4
36Trish Prain New Zealand2:01.5+23.9
37Astrid Sandvik Norway2:02.9+25.3
38Janine Monterrain France2:03.0+25.4
39Putzi Frandl Austria2:11.6+34.0
-Betsy Snite United StatesDQ-
-Annemarie Waser SwitzerlandDQ-
-Herlinde Beutlhauser AustriaDQ-
Source:[1]

References
  1. "VIII Olympic Winter Games Squaw Valley, California 1960 - Final Report". California Olympic Commission. LA84 Foundation. 1960. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  2. "Alpine Skiing at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Games: Women's Downhill". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  3. "1958 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  4. Smits, Ted (February 21, 1960). "Heidi Beibl nips Penny down hill". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 1, sports.
  5. Uhrhammer, Jerry (February 21, 1960). "Skiers come to grief on 'Airplane Turn'". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1B.
  6. Masia, Seth. "Ski helmets: how we got here". International Skiing History Association. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  7. "Tragedy mars Canadian ski triumph". Montreal Gazette. Canadian Press. February 9, 1959. p. 17.
  8. "Ski crash kills Canadian youth". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 8, 1959. p. 4, sports.
  9. "Crash helmets for U.S. ski squad". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. (Florida). Associated Press. January 25, 1956. p. 11.
  10. "Skiers cut loose at high speeds in tests". Ocala Star-Banner. (Florida). Associated Press. February 15, 1960. p. 7.
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