# Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics

Alpine Skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of six alpine skiing events. The races were held February 14–23 at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, New York, northeast of host Lake Placid.
This was the first Olympics in which the women's giant slalom consisted of two runs, rather than one, and both GS events ran only one run per day. This was the last Olympics which also served as World Championships for alpine skiing.

## Medal summary

Eight nations won medals in Alpine skiing, with Liechtenstein leading the medal table, winning two gold, and two silver. Hanni Wenzel led the individual medal table, finishing on the podium in all three women's events, with two gold and one silver. Ingemar Stenmark was the leading male medalist, with two golds.
Wenzel's two gold medals were the first, and to date, only, won by Liechtenstein at the Olympics.

### Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Liechtenstein (LIE) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | Austria (AUT) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Sweden (SWE) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | United States (USA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (8 entries) | Totals (8 entries) | 6 | 6 | 6 | 18 |
Source:

### Men's events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Downhill details | Leonhard Stock Austria | 1:45.50 | Peter Wirnsberger Austria | 1:46.12 | Steve Podborski Canada | 1:46.62 |
| Giant slalom details | Ingemar Stenmark Sweden | 2:40.74 | Andreas Wenzel Liechtenstein | 2:41.49 | Hans Enn Austria | 2:42.51 |
| Slalom details | Ingemar Stenmark Sweden | 1:44.26 | Phil Mahre United States | 1:44.76 | Jacques Lüthy Switzerland | 1:45.06 |
Source:

### Women's events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Downhill details | Annemarie Moser-Pröll Austria | 1:37.52 | Hanni Wenzel Liechtenstein | 1:38.22 | Marie-Theres Nadig Switzerland | 1:38.36 |
| Giant slalom details | Hanni Wenzel Liechtenstein | 2:41.66 | Irene Epple West Germany | 2:42.12 | Perrine Pelen France | 2:42.41 |
| Slalom details | Hanni Wenzel Liechtenstein | 1:25.09 | Christa Kinshofer West Germany | 1:26.50 | Erika Hess Switzerland | 1:27.89 |
Source:

## Course information

| Date | Race | Start Elevation | Finish Elevation | Vertical Drop | Course Length | Average Gradient |
| Thu 14-Feb | Downhill – men | 1,313 m (4,308 ft) | 481 m (1,578 ft) | 832 m (2,730 ft) | 3.009 km (1.870 mi) | 27.7% |
| Sun 17-Feb | Downhill – women | 1,181 m (3,875 ft) | 481 m (1,578 ft) | 700 m (2,297 ft) | 2.698 km (1.676 mi) | 25.9% |
| Mon 18-Feb | Giant slalom – men (1st run) | 876 m (2,874 ft) | 481 m (1,578 ft) | 395 m (1,296 ft) | 1.354 km (0.841 mi) | 29.2% |
| Tue 19-Feb | Giant slalom – men (2nd run) | 876 m (2,874 ft) | 481 m (1,578 ft) | 395 m (1,296 ft) | 1.303 km (0.810 mi) | 30.3% |
| Wed 20-Feb | Giant slalom – women (1st run) | 845 m (2,772 ft) | 481 m (1,578 ft) | 364 m (1,194 ft) | 1.231 km (0.765 mi) | 29.6% |
| Thu 21-Feb | Giant slalom – women (2nd run) | 876 m (2,874 ft) | 512 m (1,680 ft) | 364 m (1,194 ft) | 1.315 km (0.817 mi) | 27.7% |
| Fri 22-Feb | Slalom – men (2 runs) | 876 m (2,874 ft) | 667 m (2,188 ft) | 209 m (686 ft) | 0.549 km (0.341 mi) | 38.1% |
| Sat 23-Feb | Slalom – women (2 runs) | 845 m (2,772 ft) | 667 m (2,188 ft) | 178 m (584 ft) | 0.465 km (0.289 mi) | 38.3% |
    Source:

## Participating nations

Thirty nations sent alpine skiers to compete in the events in Lake Placid. China, Costa Rica and Cyprus made their Olympic alpine skiing debuts. Below is a list of the competing nations; in parentheses are the number of national competitors.
| Andorra (3)  Argentina (6)  Australia (4)  Austria (12)  Belgium (2)  Bolivia (3) | Bulgaria (4)  Canada (7)  China (2)  Costa Rica (1)  Cyprus (3)  Czechoslovakia (2) | France (7)  West Germany (13)  Great Britain (9)  Greece (3)  Iceland (3)  Italy (14) | Japan (4)  South Korea (1)  Lebanon (3)  Liechtenstein (5)  New Zealand (5)  Norway (7) | Soviet Union (5)  Spain (5)  Sweden (6)  Switzerland (14)  United States (13)  Yugoslavia (8) |

## World championships

From 1948 through these Olympics in 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

| Medal | Athlete | Points | DH | GS | SL |
| | Phil Mahre (USA) | 45.53 | 14 | 10 | |
| | Andreas Wenzel (LIE) | 60.15 | 20 | | 12 |
| | Leonhard Stock (AUT) | 76.33 | | 26 | 18 |
| 4 | Bohumir Zeman (TCH) | 81.57 | 13 | 19 | 14 |
| 5 | Francisco Fernández-Ochoa (ESP) | 118.37 | 27 | 22 | 22 |
| 6 | Antony Guss (AUS) | 259.15 | 26 | 41 | 32 |
| Medal | Athlete | Points | DH | GS | SL |
| | Hanni Wenzel (LIE) | 5.57 | | | |
| | Cindy Nelson (USA) | 95.04 | 7 | 13 | 11 |
| | Ingrid Eberle (AUT) | 102.40 | 6 | 14 | 13 |
| 4 | Kathy Kreiner (CAN) | 119.46 | 5 | 9 | 15 |
| 5 | Petra Wenzel (LIE) | 145.73 | 23 | 19 | 14 |
| 6 | Valentina Iliffe (GBR) | 254.96 | 25 | 31 | 16 |