Giant Slalom, Women

The women’s giant slalom made its Olympic début with this event, the first Alpine event at the 1952 Winter Olympics. It was contested as a single run, as was the men’s, and the women would not have two runs in the giant slalom at the Olympics until 1980. At the 1950 World Championships the winner was Austrian Dagmar Rom with her teammate, Trude Jochum-Beiser, who would win the downhill in Oslo, placing second in Aspen. But the winner by a large margin in Oslo was Andrea Mead-Lawrence, who would add a second gold medal in the slalom a few days later. Rom placed second, but Jochum-Beiser struggled to a tie for 11th. The bronze medalist was Germany’s Mirl Buchner, who would win three Alpine medals in Oslo – bronze in slalom and giant slalom, and silver in the downhill. Rom later had a minor career as an Austrian actress in films.