Alpine skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held near Innsbruck, Austria, from January 30 to February 8, 1964.
The men's downhill was held on Patscherkofel (above Igls), the other five events at Axamer Lizum.
This was the first Olympics in which the finishing times were recorded in hundredths of a second, rather than tenths. It was the third and final Winter Olympics in which East and West Germany competed as the United Team of Germany. Mild weather led to a lack of snow, which was trucked in and packed down by the Austrian army.
During a training run for the men's downhill at Patscherkofel on January 25, Ross Milne of Australia lost control and left the course; he hit a tree and later died of a head injury.
The Winter Olympics returned to Innsbruck just 12 years later in 1976, after Denver returned its winning bid in November 1972 (Innsbruck was awarded the 1976 games in February 1973).
Medal summary Four nations won medals in alpine skiing, with Austria leading the total medals with seven (three gold, two silver, and two bronze). France also had three gold, with three silver medals. France's Marielle and Christine Goitschel led the individual medal table, each with one gold and one silver. The top men's medalist was Austria's Pepi Stiegler, who won gold and bronze.
Medal table
Source:
Men's events Downhill 2:18.16 2:18.90 2:19.48 Giant slalom 1:46.71 1:47.09 1:48.05 Slalom 2:11.13 2:11.27 2:11.52 Source:
Women's events Downhill 1:55.39 1:56.42 1:56.66 Giant slalom 1:52.24 1:53.11Not awarded Slalom 1:29.86 1:30.77 1:31.36 Source:
Course information Date Race StartElevation FinishElevation VerticalDrop CourseLength AverageGradientThu 30-Jan Downhill – men Thu 06-Feb Downhill – women Sun 02-Feb Giant slalom – men Mon 03-Feb Giant slalom – women Sat 08-Feb Slalom – men (2 runs) Fri 07-Feb Slalom – men (qualifying) Sat 01-Feb Slalom – women (2 runs)
Participating nations Thirty-one nations sent alpine skiers to compete in the events in Innsbruck. India made its Olympic alpine skiing debut. Below is a list of the competing nations; in parentheses are the number of national competitors.
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
Men's Combined Medal Athlete Points DH GS SL Ludwig Leitner (FRG) 33.99 5 8 5 Gerhard Nenning (AUT) 34.37 7 6 7 Billy Kidd (USA) 36.45 16 7 4 Willy Favre (SUI) 48.82 8 4 14 5 Guy Périllat (FRA) 51.56 6 10 12 6 Karl Schranz (AUT) 54.75 11 24 Downhill: 30 January, Giant slalom: 2 February, Slalom: 8 February
Women's Combined Medal Athlete Points DH GS SL Marielle Goitschel (FRA) 34.82 10 Christl Haas (AUT) 40.11 4 6 Edith Zimmermann (AUT) 43.13 6 5 4 Jean Saubert (USA) 58.76 26 5 Barbi Henneberger (FRG) 70.40 5 7 10 6 Pia Riva (ITA) 92.50 18 9 9 Downhill: 6 February, Giant slalom: 3 February, and Slalom: 1 February Heidi Biebl of West Germany finished fourth in downhill and slalom but DQ'd in GS.
Footnotes Athletes from East and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany," designated as the EUA. This combined team appeared in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Winter Olympics
References
External links FIS-Ski.com – alpine skiing – 1964 Winter Olympics – Innsbruck, Austria Winter map – Innsbruck area Innsbruck – ski areas