Competitors 66 from 21 nations | Winning time 99.25 points (7:18.4) | |
 | ||
Venue Kreuzjoch (downhill)
Gudiberg (slalom)
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Date 7 February 1936 (downhill)
9 February 1936 (slalom) | ||
The men's combined event was part of the alpine skiing programme at the 1936 Winter Olympics. It was the debut of alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics, and was the only men's event. The competition consisted of a downhill race on Friday, 7 February and two slalom heats on Sunday, 9 February.
Contents
Sixty-six alpine skiers from 21 nations competed. Notably absent were Austria and Switzerland.
Downhill
The downhill race was held on Friday, 7 February, and the start was at the summit of Kreuzjoch at an elevation of 1,719 metres (5,640 ft). The finish was at the bottom station of the Kreuzeckbahn tramway at 760 m (2,493 ft) for a vertical drop of 959 m (3,146 ft) and a course length of 3.800 km (2.36 mi).
The race started at 12 noon. The conditions were good with temperatures at the start from −5 to −4 °C (23 to 25 °F). Birger Ruud of Norway had the best time at 4:47.4 for an average speed of 47.6 km/h (29.6 mph), with an average vertical descent rate of 3.34 m/s (11.0 ft/s). The women's downhill was run immediately prior at 11 am.
One racer was disqualifed and five racers did not finish. James Riddell of Great Britain was injured after crashing into a tree.
Slalom
The slalom race was held on Sunday, 9 February 1936 on the slalom slope at Gudiberg.
The conditions were good with temperatures of −7 to −5 °C (19 to 23 °F). The vertical drop was 200 metres (656 ft) and the length of the course was 600 metres (0.37 mi) with 33 gates. Rather than disqualification, penalties were added to the finishing time when competitors missed a gate.
The race started at 11 a.m. and the competitors started in the finish order of the downhill race. Downhill winner Birger Ruud was the first racer on the slalom course, but finished sixth in the slalom portion and fourth overall.
After the first run of slalom, the jury decided which competitors were allowed to continue, so only 33 racers competed in the second run.
(1) 6 seconds penalty added
(2) 12 seconds penalty added
(3) 18 seconds penalty added
Final standings
After the downhill race and the two slalom runs, the points results were averaged to determine the winner.