Giant Slalom, Men

The giant slalom was the first men’s Alpine event in Cortina. It was also the only Cortina Alpine event not held at Ski Resort Tofana, instead taking place over the Illio Colli course on Monte Folaria, the course having been named after a local skier who, while skiing it, had died when he crashed into a tree. The early leader was Anderl Molterer, the sixth starter, whose time of 3:06.3 was 2.2 seconds faster than his teammates, Ernst Hinterseer. Mobbed by the crowd as they congratulated the man they assumed would win gold, Molterer demurred, telling them to wait for Toni. Toni was The Blitz from Kitz, Toni Sailer, the leader of the Austrian team who hailed from Kitzbühel. And lead he did, 12 starters later, his time of 3:00.1 gave him a 6+ second victory, the most dominant win in Olympic Alpine skiing history. It was the first of Sailer’s three gold medal sweep of the Alpine skiing events in Cortina. Molterer would win silver, Walter Schuster completing the Austrian medal sweep in third, the first Olympic medal sweep in Alpine skiing.