Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics – Women's downhill
The Women's downhill competition of the Squaw Valley 1960 Olympics was held at Squaw Valley on Saturday, February 20.[1][2]
Women's downhill at the VIII Olympic Winter Games | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Venue | Squaw Valley | ||||||||||||
Date | February 20 | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 42 from 14 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 1:37.6 | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics | ||
---|---|---|
Downhill | men | women |
Giant slalom | men | women |
Slalom | men | women |
Women's Downhill | |
---|---|
Location | Squaw Valley – KT-22 |
Vertical | 557 m (1,827 ft) |
Top elevation | 2,447 m (8,028 ft) |
Base elevation | 1,894 m (6,214 ft) |
The defending world champion was Lucille Wheeler of Canada,[3] who had retired the previous year; defending Olympic champion Madeleine Berthod of Switzerland did not compete in this event.
Nineteen-year-old Heidi Biebl of Germany won the gold medal, while American Penny Pitou was a second behind for the silver; the bronze medalist was Traudl Hecher of Austria.[4][5]
The race was run on KT-22, with a starting elevation of 2,447 m (8,028 ft) above sea level; the course length was 1.828 km (1.136 mi), with a vertical drop of 553 m (1,814 ft).[1] Biebl's winning time of 97.6 seconds yielded an average speed of 67.426 km/h (41.9 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 5.666 m/s (18.6 ft/s).
Helmets
This was the first Olympic downhill in which crash helmets were mandatory,[6] following the race death in 1959 of Canadian John Semmelink at Garmisch, West Germany.[7][8] During his final race, Semmelink wore a leather helmet, which was more protection than many racers used at the time.[6] The U.S. Ski Team first wore crash helmets at the 1956 Winter Olympics,[9] but most of the Europeans went without.[6][10]
Results
Saturday, February 20, 1960
The race was started at 10:00 local time, (UTC −8).
- Source:[1]
References
- "VIII Olympic Winter Games Squaw Valley, California 1960 - Final Report". California Olympic Commission. LA84 Foundation. 1960. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
- "Alpine Skiing at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Games: Women's Downhill". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
- "1958 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
- Smits, Ted (February 21, 1960). "Heidi Beibl nips Penny down hill". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 1, sports.
- Uhrhammer, Jerry (February 21, 1960). "Skiers come to grief on 'Airplane Turn'". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1B.
- Masia, Seth. "Ski helmets: how we got here". International Skiing History Association. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
- "Tragedy mars Canadian ski triumph". Montreal Gazette. Canadian Press. February 9, 1959. p. 17.
- "Ski crash kills Canadian youth". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 8, 1959. p. 4, sports.
- "Crash helmets for U.S. ski squad". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. (Florida). Associated Press. January 25, 1956. p. 11.
- "Skiers cut loose at high speeds in tests". Ocala Star-Banner. (Florida). Associated Press. February 15, 1960. p. 7.