Alpine Skiing at the 1952 Winter Olympics

The program eliminated the combined competition, which had been contested in both 1936 and 1948. An Alpine combined event would continue to be contested at the World Championships and would return to the Winter Olympics in 1988. In its place, a third event, the giant slalom was added for men and women. The program of downhill, giant slalom, and slalom for men and women would be the Winter Olympic standard thru 1984, after which the combined and super-G were added to the program. Interestingly, Alpine skiing is the oldest Olympic sport for which the men’s and women’s programs have always been precisely the same.

The downhill and giant slalom events were contested at Norefjell, a ski resort 1½ hours drive north of Oslo, in the Norefjell mountain range. The slalom competition took place at Rødkleiva, which was nearer to Oslo and is a ski resort better known for its Nordic trails and ski jumping.