Giant Slalom, Women

This was contested as a single run, for the last time at the Winter Olympics. Anticipation was high because Rosi Mittermaier had already won gold medals in the downhill and slalom, and was attempting to match the Alpine triple golds of Toni Sailer and Jean-Claude Killy. The first starter was Canadian Kathy Kreiner, who had won one World Cup race, a giant slalom in 1974. Mittermaier was the fourth starter and led Kreiner thru all the early checkpoints, until a poor line on a gate near the end caused her to lose time and the gold medal to Kreiner. Mittermaier hung on for the silver, with the bronze going to France’s Danièle Debernard.