FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1950

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
1950
Host city	Aspen, Colorado
Country	United States
Nations	14
Athletes	108
Events	6
Opening	February 13, 1950
Closing	February 18, 1950
Opened by	Harry S. Truman
Main venue	Ajax Mountain
	← Zakopane 1939 Åre 1954 →

Aspen

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Location in the United States

Aspen

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Location in Colorado

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1950 were the 11th FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, held February 13–18 in the United States at Aspen, Colorado.^[3]

These were the first world championships held outside of Europe, and the first official world championships not concurrent with the Olympics since 1939. The Giant slalom made its world championships debut and displaced the combined event, which returned to the program in 1954 as a "paper race," using the results of the three races (downhill, giant slalom, and slalom) through 1980.

At Aspen's Ajax Mountain,^[4] Zeno Colò of Italy won the downhill^[5] and giant slalom,^[6] and just missed a sweep of the gold medals; he finished 0.3 seconds behind in the slalom, taking the silver. Austria dominated the women's races: Dagmar Rom won the giant slalom and slalom,^[7] Trude Jochum-Beiser won gold in the downhill and silver in the GS, and Erika Mahringer took two silver medals, in the downhill and slalom.

Aspen was in its fourth year as a ski area; it opened in December 1946 with a single chairlift.

The Nordic world championships were also held in the U.S. in 1950, at Lake Placid, New York. Due to a lack of snow at Lake Placid, the cross-country events were moved to Rumford, Maine.

Men's competitions

Downhill

Saturday, February 18, 1950

In the final race of the championships, Colò descended the 2.1-mile (3.4 km) course
at an average speed of 53 mph (85 km/h) to win his second gold medal and third podium.^[5]^[6]

Place	Name	Country	Time	Diff.
	Zeno Colò	Italy	2:34.4	−
	James Couttet	France	2:35.7	+ 1.3
	Egon Schöpf	Austria	2:36.3	+ 1.9
4	Bernhard Perren	Switzerland	2:37.7	+ 3.3
5	Christian Pravda	Austria	2:38.1	+ 3.7
6	Jean Pazzi	France	2:38.6	+ 4.2
7	Edi Mall	Austria	2:38.9	+ 4.5
8	Hans Nogler	Austria	2:39.5	+ 5.1
9	Rolf Olinger	Switzerland	2:39.7	+ 5.3
10	Edy Rominger	Switzerland	2:40.3	+ 5.9
11	Franz Gabl	Austria	2:41.1	+ 6.7
12	Hans Senger	Austria	2:41.5	+ 7.1

Giant slalom

Tuesday, February 14, 1950

In the first men's race, Colò averaged 40 mph (64 km/h) in the one-run event.
The course had 35 gates with a vertical drop of 1,600 feet (490 m).^[8]^[9]

Place	Name	Country	Time	Diff.
	Zeno Colò	Italy	1:54.4	−
	Fernand Grosjean	Switzerland	1:55.2	+ 0.8
	James Couttet	France	1:55.3	+ 0.9
4	Henri Oreiller	France	1:55.8	+ 1.4
5	Georges Schneider	Switzerland	1:55.9	+ 1.5
6	Carlo Gartner	Italy	1:56.0	+ 1.6
7	George Panisset	France	1:56.3	+ 1.9
8	Guttorm Berge	Norway	1:56.5	+ 2.1
9	Silvio Alverà	Italy	1:56.8	+ 2.4
10	Jean Pazzi	France	1:57.0	+ 2.6

Slalom

Thursday, February 16, 1950

Georges Schneider edged Colò by three-tenths of a second over two runs.
The 1,000-yard (910 m) course of 40 gates had a vertical drop of 700 feet (210 m).^[10]^[11]

Place	Name	Country	Time	Diff.
	Georges Schneider	Switzerland	2:06.4	−
	Zeno Colò	Italy	2:06.7	+ 0.3
	Stein Eriksen	Norway	2:08.0	+ 1.6
4	Jack Reddish	United States	2:08.4	+ 2.0
T-5	Egon Schöpf	Austria	2:09.0	+ 2.6
T-5	Ernest McCullough	Canada	2:09.0	+ 2.6
T-5	James Couttet	France	2:09.0	+ 2.6