# Alpine skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

The men's alpine skiing downhill event of the 1956 Winter Olympics at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, was held on Friday, 3 February, at 11:00 a.m. The starting elevation on the Olimpia - Tofana run was 2,282 m (7,487 ft) above sea level and the course length was 3.461 km (2.15 mi), with a vertical drop of 902 m (2,959 ft) and just fifteen control gates.
It was the final alpine event of the games and the third straight victory for Toni Sailer of Austria. His average speed was 72.355 km/h (45.0 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 5.238 m/s (17.2 ft/s).
It was the third appearance of the downhill event at the Winter Games, which debuted in 1948. Seventy-five alpine skiers from 27 nations competed.

## Results

Friday, 3 February 1956
| Place | Bib | Competitor | Time | Difference |
| | 14 | Toni Sailer (AUT) | 2:52.2 | — |
| | 25 | Raymond Fellay (SUI) | 2:55.7 | +3.5 |
| | 20 | Anderl Molterer (AUT) | 2:56.2 | +4.0 |
| 4 | 21 | Roger Staub (SUI) | 2:57.1 | +4.9 |
| 5 | 7 | Hans-Peter Lanig (EUA) | 2:59.8 | +7.6 |
| 6 | 11 | Gino Burrini (ITA) | 3:00.2 | +8.0 |
| 7 | 46 | Kurt Hennrich (TCH) | 3:01.5 | +9.3 |
| 8 | 17 | Charles Bozon (FRA) | 3:01.9 | +9.7 |
| 9 | 23 | Bruno Burrini (ITA) | 3:02.4 | +10.2 |
| 10 | 9 | Stig Sollander (SWE) | 3:05.4 | +13.2 |
| 11 | 4 | Buddy Werner (USA) | 3:05.8 | +13.6 |
| 12 | 31 | Sepp Behr (EUA) | 3:07.7 | +15.5 |
| 13 | 16 | Hans Forrer (SUI) | 3:08.0 | +15.8 |
| 14 | 35 | Asle Sjåstad (NOR) | 3:08.8 | +16.6 |
| 15 | 12 | Andrzej Gąsienica Roj (POL) | 3:09.3 | +17.1 |
| 16 | 32 | Aleksandr Filatov (URS) | 3:16.6 | +24.4 |
| 17 | 38 | Evžen Čermák (TCH) | 3:18.0 | +25.8 |
| 18 | 62 | Georgi Dimitrov (BUL) | 3:18.1 | +25.9 |
| 19 | 29 | Karl Zillibiller (EUA) | 3:21.6 | +29.4 |
| 20 | 1 | Pepi Schwaiger (EUA) | 3:22.2 | +30.0 |
| 21 | 15 | Viktor Talyanov (URS) | 3:26.5 | +34.3 |
| 22 | 55 | Franc Cvenkelj (YUG) | 3:28.5 | +36.3 |
| 23 | 50 | Kalevi Häkkinen (FIN) | 3:29.2 | +37.0 |
| 24 | 60 | Georgi Varoshkin (BUL) | 3:30.0 | +37.8 |
| 25 | 33 | André Bertrand (CAN) | 3:31.2 | +39.0 |
| 26 | 58 | Franz Beck (LIE) | 3:36.8 | +44.6 |
| 27 | 48 | Petar Ivanov Angelov (BUL) | 3:38.5 | +46.3 |
| 28 | 44 | Susumu Sugiyama (JPN) | 3:39.1 | +46.9 |
| 29 | 36 | Ludvig Dornig (YUG) | 3:41.1 | +48.9 |
| 30 | 87 | Charlach Mackintosh (GBR) | 3:41.4 | +49.2 |
| 31 | 84 | Nicolae Pandrea (ROU) | 3:46.5 | +54.3 |
| 32 | 42 | Lars Mattsson (SWE) | 3:50.4 | +58.2 |
| 33 | 63 | Muzaffer Demirhan (TUR) | 3:52.2 | +1:00.0 |
| 34 | 45 | Nigel Gardner (GBR) | 4:00.7 | +1:08.5 |
| 35 | 54 | Bill Day (AUS) | 4:02.0 | +1:09.8 |
| 36 | 53 | Francisco Viladomat (ESP) | 4:02.1 | +1:09.9 |
| 37 | 91 | Luis Molné (ESP) | 4:08.9 | +1:16.7 |
| 38 | 89 | Denis Feron (BEL) | 4:16.6 | +1:24.4 |
| 39 | 72 | Mahmoud Beiglou (IRI) | 4:22.0 | +1:29.8 |
| 40 | 85 | Leopold Schädler (LIE) | 4:23.7 | +1:31.5 |
| 41 | 79 | Vicente Vera (CHI) | 4:25.4 | +1:33.2 |
| 42 | 69 | Ibrahim Geagea (LIB) | 4:33.1 | +1:40.9 |
| 43 | 81 | Jean Keyrouz (LIB) | 4:57.6 | +2:05.4 |
| 44 | 77 | Benik Amirian (IRI) | 5:02.7 | +2:10.5 |
| 45 | 73 | Max von Hohenlohe (LIE) | 5:15.8 | +2:23.6 |
| 46 | 90 | Aris Vatimbella (GRE) | 5:44.2 | +2:52.0 |
| 47 | 92 | Christos Papageorgiou (GRE) | 8:03.2 | +5:11.0 |
| — | 2 | Josl Rieder (AUT) | DSQ | |
| — | 3 | Ralph Miller (USA) | DSQ | |
| — | 5 | Lino Zecchini (ITA) | DSQ | |
| — | 6 | William Beck (USA) | DSQ | |
| — | 8 | Walter Schuster (AUT) | DSQ | |
| — | 10 | Chiharu Igaya (JPN) | DSQ | |
| — | 13 | René Collet (FRA) | DSQ | |
| — | 18 | Adrien Duvillard (FRA) | DSQ | |
| — | 22 | André Simond (FRA) | DSQ | |
| — | 24 | Andreas Rüedi (SUI) | DSQ | |
| — | 30 | Jan Zarycki (POL) | DSQ | |
| — | 37 | Paride Milianti (ITA) | DSQ | |
| — | 39 | Marvin Melville (USA) | DSQ | |
| — | 43 | Kåre Opdal (NOR) | DSQ | |
| — | 47 | Vladimír Krajňák (TCH) | DSQ | |
| — | 49 | Trygve Berge (NOR) | DSQ | |
| — | 51 | Sergey Shustov (URS) | DSQ | |
| — | 56 | Osman Yüce (TUR) | DSQ | |
| — | 57 | Jože Ilija (YUG) | DSQ | |
| — | 59 | Jaroslav Bogdálek (TCH) | DSQ | |
| — | 61 | Pentti Alonen (FIN) | DSQ | |
| — | 64 | Gheorghe Cristoloveanu (ROU) | DSQ | |
| — | 65 | Gennady Chertishchev (URS) | DSQ | |
| — | 71 | Robin Brock-Hollinshead (GBR) | DSQ | |
| — | 74 | Hermann Kindle (LIE) | DSQ | |
| — | 80 | Jaime Talens (ESP) | DSQ | |
| — | 86 | Reza Bazargan (IRI) | DSQ | |
| — | 93 | Douglas Mackintosh (GBR) | DSQ | |