 Germans took gold and silver in both the men's and women's alpine combined events; Franz Pfnuer and Christl Cranz were the new champions; Dick Durrance, who grew up in Florida but spent several years in Germany learning to ski before Hitler took power, was the runaway best US skier, finishing 10th.For the only time, the FIS authorized a World Championships in addition to the Olympics with alpine championship races held in Innsbruck, Austria.1948 - Jan. 30-Feb. 8 - Olympics return with first US alpine medals - St. Moritz, Switzerland

The Olympics (with Germany and Japan barred from competing) returned after a 12-year hiatus, with American Gretchen Fraser (then of Vancouver, WA, later of Sun Valley, ID) winning the first two US Olympic ski medals – and they came on the same day, Feb. 5; the combined downhill had been run the previous day and when she won the slalom, it gave her second place in the combined calculation.