Val d'Isere, France  - The alpine ski world championships have been held since 1931 and have been a two-year affair independent of the winter Olympics since 1985.

Until 1939, the event was held every year, then every two years from 1948 to 1982.

Until the 1980 winter Olympics, the Olympic champions were also the world champions (except for the combined event). Since 1985, the event has been held in uneven years, independent of the winter Games.

Lack of snow in Sierra Nevada in southern Spain in 1995 caused a postponement of the world championships to the following year.

Poor weather also severely disrupted the 1993 event in Morioka in northern Japan.

A combination of fog, snow, wind and rain repeatedly caused the postponements of the downhill and super-g events, the rescheduling of the timetable and eventually the cancellation of the men's super- g.

It is the only time the full programme of ski events has not been completed at an Olympics or world championships.

A mixture of rain, snow, wind and sub-zero temperatures also caused disruption to the 2007 world championships in Are, Sweden.

Violent gusts of foehn winds were predicted ahead of Monday's opening ceremony in Val d'Isere but the winds were expected to weaken for Tuesday's first day of racing. (dpa)