Vail and sister resort Beaver Creek have been awarded the 2015 Alpine World Skiing Championships. The famous US resort last hosted the Championships in 1999 and European resorts have or will host the seven Championships in between.

The Championships are seen as the second most important downhill ski racing competitions after the Winter Olympics and are staged every two years, the year after and the year before each Winter Olympic Games. The next Alpine World Skiing Championships are in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany, next February and the 2013 Championships will be staged in Schladming, Austria.

Vail beat other former hosts Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy and St. Moritz in Switzerland which staged the 2003 Alpine World Skiing Championships and has been bidding to stage the Championships again for several years.

The Colorado resort also hosted the Championships in 1991, Cortina had staged the event three times, most recently in 1956, but also the second ever Championships in 1932. St Moritz has staged the Championships four times. Vail won an overall majority on the first ballot of FIS delegates at the Federation’s centenary meeting in Turkey this week.

Part of Beaver Creek’s bid includes expanding the men’s Birds of Prey finish area and building a new women’s downhill run.