The women's downhill event of the 1956 Winter Olympics at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, was held on Mt. Tofana on Wednesday, 1 February. The Swiss took the top two spots as Madeleine Berthod won the gold and Frieda Dänzer took the silver; Lucile Wheeler of Canada was the bronze medalist. Forty-four women from sixteen countries finished the race. The race was held on the Canalone piste, with a starting elevation of 2114 m above sea level with a vertical drop of 502 m; the course length was 1.552 km. Berthoud's winning time of 100.7 seconds yielded an average speed of 55.484 km/h, with an average vertical descent rate of 4.985 m/s.

Results

Wednesday, 1 February 1956 The race was started at 11:30 local time, (UTC+1). At the starting gate, the skies were clear, the temperature was -8 C, and the snow condition was hard. Source: