# Alpine skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics

At the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, the six alpine skiing events were held from Friday, 27 January to Friday, 3 February.
Toni Sailer of Austria won all three men's events to become the first alpine ski racer to win three gold medals in a single Olympics. The feat has been repeated once, by Jean-Claude Killy in 1968.
The races were held at the adjacent Tofana, except for the men's giant slalom, which was held at Monte Faloria. The men's downhill was the final event.

## Medal summary
### Men's events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Downhill details | Toni Sailer Austria | 2:52.2 | Raymond Fellay Switzerland | 2:55.7 | Anderl Molterer Austria | 2:56.2 |
| Giant Slalom details | Toni Sailer Austria | 3:00.1 | Anderl Molterer Austria | 3:06.3 | Walter Schuster Austria | 3:07.2 |
| Slalom details | Toni Sailer Austria | 3:14.7 | Chiharu Igaya Japan | 3:18.7 | Stig Sollander Sweden | 3:20.2 |
Source:

### Women's events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Downhill details | Madeleine Berthod Switzerland | 1:40.7 | Frieda Dänzer Switzerland | 1:45.4 | Lucille Wheeler Canada | 1:45.9 |
| Giant Slalom details | Ossi Reichert United Team of Germany | 1:56.5 | Putzi Frandl Austria | 1:57.8 | Thea Hochleitner Austria | 1:58.2 |
| Slalom details | Renée Colliard Switzerland | 1:52.3 | Regina Schöpf Austria | 1:55.4 | Yevgeniya Sidorova Soviet Union | 1:56.7 |
Source:

## Participating nations

* Australia (7)
* Austria (11)
* Belgium (1)
* Bolivia (1)
* Bulgaria (3)
* Canada (5)
* Chile (3)
* Czechoslovakia (4)
* Finland (2)
* France (13)
* United Team of Germany (11)
* Great Britain (15)
* Greece (3)
* Iceland (5)
* Iran (3)
* Italy (13)
* Japan (2)
* Lebanon (3)
* Liechtenstein (6)
* Norway (10)
* Poland (8)
* Romania (4)
* Soviet Union (10)
* Spain (4)
* Sweden (8)
* Switzerland (14)
* Turkey (4)
* United States (12)
* Yugoslavia (4)

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Austria | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | United Team of Germany | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Japan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Canada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Soviet Union | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Sweden | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (7 entries) | Totals (7 entries) | 6 | 6 | 6 | 18 |

## Course information

| Date | Race | Start Elevation | Finish Elevation | Vertical Drop | Course Length | Average Gradient |
| Fri 3-Feb | Downhill - men | 2,282 m (7,487 ft) | 1,380 m (4,528 ft) | 902 m (2,959 ft) | 3.461 km (2.151 mi) | 26.1% |
| Wed 1-Feb | Downhill - women | 2,114 m (6,936 ft) | 1,612 m (5,289 ft) | 502 m (1,647 ft) | 1.552 km (0.964 mi) | 32.3% |
| Sun 29-Jan | Giant Slalom - men | 2,336 m (7,664 ft) | 1,713 m (5,620 ft) | 623 m (2,044 ft) | 2.660 km (1.653 mi) | 23.4% |
| Fri 27-Jan | Giant Slalom - women | 2,020 m (6,627 ft) | 1,612 m (5,289 ft) | 408 m (1,339 ft) | 1.366 km (0.849 mi) | 29.9% |
| Tue 31-Jan | Slalom - men | 1,748 m (5,735 ft) | 1,497 m (4,911 ft) | 251 m (823 ft) | 0.617 km (0.383 mi) | 40.7% |
| Mon 30-Jan | Slalom - women | 1,673 m (5,489 ft) | 1,498 m (4,915 ft) | 175 m (574 ft) | 0.456 km (0.283 mi) | 38.4% |
Source:

## World championships

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

| Medal | Athlete | Points | DH | GS | SL |
| | Toni Sailer (AUT) | 0.00 | | | |
| | Charles Bozon (FRA) | 12.65 | 8 | 5 | 7 |
| | Stig Sollander (SWE) | 16.92 | 10 | 16 | |
| 4 | Raymond Fellay (SUI) | 18.39 | | 27 | 11 |
| 5 | Asle Sjåstad (NOR) | 27.25 | 14 | 22 | 18 |
| 6 | Gino Burrini (ITA) | 30.43 | 6 | 10 | 27 |
| Medal | Athlete | Points | DH | GS | SL |
| | Madeleine Berthod (SUI) | 9.85 | | 4 | 17 |
| | Frieda Dänzer (SUI) | 11.19 | | 11 | 10 |
| | Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo (ITA) | 12.31 | 4 | 13 | 4 |
| 4 | Dorothea Hochleitner (AUT) | 12.79 | 7 | | 12 |
| 5 | Borghild Niskin (NOR) | 13.80 | 9 | 7 | 11 |
| 5 | Josefine Frandl (AUT) | 13.80 | 13 | | 5 |