A women's slalom event was held at the

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, were a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 1952 in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Discussions about Oslo hosting ...

in Oslo, Norway as part of the

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...

programme. On 24 January, a decision was taken that

Rødkleiva Rødkleiva is a hill located in Nordmarka in Oslo, Norway. It was taken into use as a slalom skiing, slalom hill in 1947 and was used for the alpine skiing combined, combined event of the Holmenkollen Ski Festival eleven times between 1947 and 1 ...

would hold the slalom events, but at that time there was only of snow at the site and additional work lasting three days had to be done to ensure the hill would be usable for training and the races.Organising Committee for the VI Olympic Winter Games, p. 201. However, the athletes had to shift their training to

Norefjell Norefjell is a mountain range in the Scandes Mountains system in Norway. It stretches between the valleys of Eggedal (west) and Hallingdal (east). It covers parts of the municipalities Flå, Sigdal, and Krødsherad, all in the county Busker ...

by 9 February after more problems with the snow resulted in the hill " ookingalmost like a skating rink" according to the official report. It took a further week of work by the military, volunteers and hired help to spread of snow resulting in a new snow depth of around .Organising Committee for the VI Olympic Winter Games, p. 202. The event eventually took place as scheduled on 20 February, a day after the men's slalom races. It was the final alpine skiing event of the Games. There were a total of 26 gates on the women's course. A total of 14 National Olympic Committees were represented at the event by 40 skiers.Organising Committee for the VI Olympic Winter Games, p. 231.

Andrea Mead Lawrence Andrea Mead Lawrence (April 19, 1932 – March 30, 2009) was an American alpine ski racer and environmentalist. She competed in three Winter Olympics and one additional World Championship (Olympic competitions also counted as the Worlds during t ...

, representing the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and Dagmar Rom, representing

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, were considered to be the favourites in the event. However, both skiers suffered falls on their first run, with Mead Lawrence placing fourth and Rom finishing last, effectively putting the latter out of contention. Mead Lawrence managed to post the best time of the second runs, enough to win the gold medal. It was her second gold medal in Oslo after her

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in Slalom skiing, slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant sl ...

victory. By winning the title, she became the first American skier to win two gold medals at the same Olympics. Ossi Reichert, who led the field after the first run, finished two seconds behind Mead Lawrence in the second run and ended up second overall. Reichert's teammate

Annemarie Buchner Annemarie "Mirl" Buchner-Fischer (; 16 February 1924 – 9 November 2014) was a Germans, German Alpine skiing, Alpine skier. She was born in Ettal. At the 1952 Winter Olympics, 1952 Olympics in Oslo Buchner was silver medalist in the d ...

won bronze.

Results

The official results as published by the Organising Committee for the VI Olympic Winter Games were as follows:

References

;General * ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Alpine skiing at the 1952 Winter Olympics - Women's slalom Women's alpine skiing at the 1952 Winter Olympics Oly Alp