The men's alpine skiing downhill was the third of six events of the alpine skiing programme at the 1952 Winter Olympics. It was held at Norefjell ski area on Saturday, 16 February, and started at 1 p.m. It followed the women's giant slalom on Thursday and men's giant slalom on Friday. It was the second Olympic downhill race, which was first run as a separate event in 1948. Eighty-one alpine skiers from 27 nations competed.