The giant slalom made its Olympic debut, and the combined event was dropped as an Olympic medal event for four decades, until 1988. It returned as a medal event at the World Championships two years later in 1954, and for the concurrent World Championships in Olympic years from 1956 through 1980. For fourteen World Championships (1954–1980), the combined was a "paper race," using the results from the three events (and required the completion of each).