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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

Women's competitions

Downhill

Friday, February 17, 1950

Trude Jochum-Beiser, 22, won the final women's event, averaging nearly 50 mph (80 km/h).
She had given birth to her first child just four months earlier.^[12]

Place	Nation	Athlete	Time	Diff.
	Austria	Trude Jochum-Beiser	2:06.6	−
	Austria	Erika Mahringer	2:07.5	+ 0.9
	France	Georgette Miller-Thiollière	2:08.4	+ 1.8
4	Austria	Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf	2:08.6	+ 2.0
5	United States	Katy Rodolph	2:08.9	+ 2.3
6	France	Lucienne Schmith-Couttet	2:10.0	+ 3.4

Giant slalom

Monday, February 13, 1950

In the first race of the championships, Rom averaged 30 mph (48 km/h) in the one-run event.
The course had 28 gates with an approximate vertical drop of 1,000 feet (300 m).^[13]

Place	Nation	Athlete	Time	Diff.
	Austria	Dagmar Rom	1:29.6	−
	Austria	Trude Jochum-Beiser	1:29.8	+ 0.2
	France	Lucienne Schmith-Couttet	1:30.0	+ 0.4
4	Austria	Erika Mahringer	1:31.8	+ 2.2
5	Austria	Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf	1:31.9	+ 2.3
6	Austria	Lydia Gstrein	1:32.7	+ 3.1
7	Austria	Resi Hammerer	1:33.1	+ 3.5
8	United States	Katy Rodolph	1:33.4	+ 3.8
9	United States	Andrea Mead	1:33.5	+ 3.9
10	France	Micheline Desmazières	1:33.8	+ 4.2
11	Sweden	Sarah Thomasson	1:34.1	+ 4.5
12	Italy	Celina Seghi	1:34.3	+ 4.7
13	United States	Suzy Harris-Rytting	1:36.2	+ 6.6
14	Switzerland	Olivia Ausoni	1:36.3	+ 6.7
15	France	Georgette Miller-Thiollière	1:36.9	+ 7.3

Slalom

Wednesday, February 15, 1950

Rom, 21, won her second gold medal in as many events by the slimmest of margins over two runs.
The quarter-mile (400 m) course of 33 gates had a vertical drop of 495 feet (150 m).^[7]

Place	Nation	Athlete	Time	Diff.
	Austria	Dagmar Rom	1:47.8	−
	Austria	Erika Mahringer	1:47.9	+ 0.1
	Italy	Celina Seghi	1:49.5	+ 1.7
4	Austria	Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf	1:49.9	+ 2.1
5	France	Lucienne Schmith-Couttet	1:51.0	+ 3.2
6	United States	Andrea Mead	1:51.7	+ 3.9

Medal Standings

Place	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Austria	3	3	1	7
2	Italy	2	1	1	4
3	Switzerland	1	1	–	2
4	France	–	1	3	4
5	Norway	–	–	1	1

Video

Vimeo.com – 1950 World Championships
Vimeo.com – (1950) Aspen FIS race coverage

References

^ "Aspen - a historical perspective" (PDF). U.S. Forest Service. p. 2. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
^ "Russians officials witness 1950 world ski tournament". Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. INS. February 12, 1950. p. 4C.
^ de.wikipedia.org - Alpine Skiweltmeisterschaft 1950
^ "Aspen's courses to challenge skiers". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (AP photo). February 12, 1950. p. 5.
^ ^a ^b "Colo of Italy wins downhill for second world ski title". Calgary Herald. Alberta. Associated Press. February 20, 1950. p. 20.
^ ^a ^b "Italian wins Downhill title". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. February 19, 1950. p. 13A.
^ ^a ^b "Blond ski co-ed wins in slalom". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. February 16, 1950. p. 17.
^ "Italian wins Giant Slalom". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. February 15, 1950. p. 12.
^ "Zeno Colo of Italy wins world championship in Giant Slalom race". Calgary Herald. Alberta. February 15, 1950. p. 26.
^ "World slalom title won by Swiss rider". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. February 17, 1950. p. 4-part 2.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Schneider of Switzerland wins world slalom title". Calgary Herald. Alberta. Associated Press. February 17, 1950. p. 29.
^ "Young mother wins ski title". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. February 18, 1950. p. 3-part 2.
^ Claasen, Harold (February 14, 1950). "21-year-old Austrian co-ed wins giant slalom race at Aspen". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. p. 12.

External links

FIS-ski.com - results - 1950 World Championships - Aspen, CO, USA
Aspen Historical Society Archived 2008-10-03 at the Wayback Machine - 1950 World Championships
Nicholas Howe (January 1989). "A time to remember". Skiing.
Nicholas Howe (June 2004). "The world comes to Aspen". Skiing Heritage Journal.