Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics – Men's downhill

The Men's downhill competition of the 1960 Winter Olympics was held at Squaw Valley on Monday, February 22. The race was postponed from February 19, due to heavy snow fall.^[1][2][3][4]

Men's Downhill at the VIII Olympic Winter Games
Alpine skiing
Venue	Squaw Valley
Date	February 22, 1960
Competitors	63 from 21 nations
Winning time	2:06.0
Medalists
Jean Vuarnet  France Hans Peter Lanig  United Team of Germany Guy Périllat  France
← 1956 1964 →

Men's Downhill
Location	Squaw Valley Squaw Peak
Vertical	758 m (2,487 ft)
Top elevation	2,707 m (8,881 ft)
Base elevation	1,949 m (6,394 ft)

The downhill race start was at the top of Squaw Peak at an elevation of 2,707 m (8,881 ft). The course length was 3.095 km (1.923 mi), with a vertical drop of 758 m (2,487 ft).^[2]

Austrian Toni Sailer, the defending FIS Downhill World Champion did not compete as he had previously retired.^[5]

Jean Vuarnet, the bronze medalist at the world championships two years earlier, won by a half-second in the only Olympic event of his career. It was the first time an Olympic race was won on metal skis.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Vuarnet's winning time of 126.0 seconds yielded an average speed of 88.429 km/h (54.9 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 6.016 m/s (19.7 ft/s).

Helmets

This was the first Olympic downhill in which crash helmets were mandatory,^[11] following the race death in 1959 of Canadian John Semmelink at Garmisch, West Germany.^[12][13] During his final race, Semmelink wore a leather helmet, which was more protection than many racers used at the time.^[11] The U.S. Ski Team first wore crash helmets at the 1956 Winter Olympics,^[14] but most of the Europeans went without.^[11][15]

Results

Monday, February 22, 1960
The race was started at 10:00 local time, (UTC −8).

Rank	Name	Country	Time	Difference
	Jean Vuarnet	France	2:06.0	—
	Hans Peter Lanig	United Team of Germany	2:06.5	+0.5
	Guy Périllat	France	2:06.9	+0.9
4	Willi Forrer	Switzerland	2:07.8	+1.8
5	Roger Staub	Switzerland	2:08.9	+2.9
6	Bruno Alberti	Italy	2:09.1	+3.1
7	Karl Schranz	Austria	2:09.2	+3.2
8	Charles Bozon	France	2:09.6	+3.6
9	Willy Bogner	United Team of Germany	2:09.7	+3.7
10	Egon N. Zimmermann	Austria	2:09.8	+3.8
11	Luggi Leitner	United Team of Germany	2:10.2	+4.2
12	Paride Milianti	Italy	2:10.8	+4.8
13	Jakob Arduser	Switzerland	2:10.9	+4.9
14	Dave Gorsuch	United States	2:11.0	+5.0
15	Pepi Stiegler	Austria	2:13.1	+7.1
16	Eberhard Riedel	United Team of Germany	2:13.3	+7.3
17	Gordi Eaton	United States	2:14.0	+8.0
18	Max Marolt	United States	2:14.2	+8.2
19	Anderl Molterer	Austria	2:15.1	+9.1
20	Nando Pajarola	Switzerland	2:15.4	+9.4
	Oddvar Rønnestad	Norway
22	Marvin Melville	United States	2:15.9	+9.9
	Verne Anderson	Canada
24	Italo Pedroncelli	Italy	2:16.8	+10.8
25	Felice De Nicolo	Italy	2:18.1	+12.1
26	Jean-Guy Brunet	Canada	2:18.2	+12.2
27	Frederick Tommy	Canada	2:18.4	+12.4
28	Don Bruneski	Canada	2:19.9	+13.9
29	Georgi Varoshkin	Bulgaria	2:20.0	+14.0
30	Georgi Dimitrov	Bulgaria	2:20.2	+14.2
31	Francisco Cortes	Chile	2:20.8	+14.8
32	Vicente Vera	Chile	2:24.5	+18.5
33	Jóhann Vilbergsson	Iceland	2:24.6	+18.6
34	Chiharu Igaya	Japan	2:25.0	+19.0
35	Charlach Mackintosh	Great Britain	2:25.1	+19.1
36	Kristinn Benediktsson	Iceland	2:26.0	+20.0
37	Eysteinn Þórðarson	Iceland	2:26.2	+20.2
38	Hernán Boher	Chile	2:26.7	+20.7
39	Victor Tagle	Chile	2:26.9	+20.9
40	Geoff Pitchford	Great Britain	2:27.3	+21.3
41	Adolf Fehr	Liechtenstein	2:27.4	+21.4
42	Manuel García-Moran	Spain	2:27.6	+21.6
43	Robert Skepper	Great Britain	2:28.1	+22.1
44	Luis Sánchez	Spain	2:28.3	+22.3
45	Osvaldo Ancinas	Argentina	2:28.4	+22.4
46	Osamu Tada	Japan	2:28.5	+22.5
47	Aleksandar Shalamanov	Bulgaria	2:29.0	+23.0
48	Sam Chaffey	New Zealand	2:29.3	+23.3
49	Silvan Kindle Hermann Kindle	Liechtenstein	2:29.4	+23.4
51	Luis Arias	Spain	2:29.8	+23.8
52	Bill Day	Australia	2:30.5	+24.5
53	Masayoshi Mitani	Japan	2:31.3	+25.3
54	Bill Hunt	New Zealand	2:32.0	+26.0
55	John Oakes	Great Britain	2:36.0	+30.0
56	Ibrahim Geagea	Lebanon	2:39.2	+33.2
57	Peter Brockhoff	Australia	2:39.7	+33.7
58	Zeki Şamiloğlu	Turkey	2:42.4	+36.4
59	Nazih Geagea	Lebanon	3:00.3	+54.3
60	Clemente Tellechea	Argentina	3:20.2	+1:14.2
61	Im Gyeong-sun	South Korea	3:34.4	+1:28.4
-	Adrien Duvillard	France	DQ	-
-	Muzaffer Demirhan	Turkey	DQ	-

Source:^[2]

References

1. "Girls to precede men in ski event". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. February 19, 1960. p. 16. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
2. "VIII Olympic Winter Games Squaw Valley, California 1960 - Final Report". California Olympic Commission. California State Printing Office. 1960. pp. 95–96. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
3. "Alpine Skiing at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Games: Men's Downhill". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
4. "Russia clinches team title". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. February 23, 1960. p. 20. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
5. "1958 World Championships results". FIS. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
6. Terrell, Roy (February 29, 1960). "Heroes of Squaw Valley". Sports Illustrated. p. 20.
7. Uhrhammer, Jerry (February 23, 1960). "Metal skis, wax key items in men's downhill". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1D.
8. "Ski-ing medal won by Frenchman". Glasgow Herald. February 23, 1960. p. 9.
9. "Russ sew up title at Winter Olympics". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 23, 1960. p. 15.
10. "Top downhill skiers". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). (AP photo). February 22, 1960. p. 15.
11. Masia, Seth. "Ski helmets: how we got here". International Skiing History Association. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
12. "Tragedy mars Canadian ski triumph". Montreal Gazette. Canadian Press. February 9, 1959. p. 17.
13. "Ski crash kills Canadian youth". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 8, 1959. p. 4, sports.
14. "Crash helmets for U.S. ski squad". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. (Florida). Associated Press. January 25, 1956. p. 11.
15. "Skiers cut loose at high speeds in tests". Ocala Star-Banner. (Florida). Associated Press. February 15, 1960. p. 7.

External links

• YouTube: Flame in the Snow – an official film of the VIII Olympic Winter Games (1960) – Men's downhill (8:50 to 11:34)
• VIII Olympic Winter Games 1960 Squaw Valley, California, Final Report Published by the California Olympic Commission, California State Printing Office, July 1960.