Bormio unveils 2005 world championship race schedule; new team event included{mosimage}The biggest news at the 44th FIS Congress, which was held in Miami at the beginining of June, was the selection of Val d'Isere to host the 2009 world championships. But Miami also saw the FIS definitively approve the calendar for the next alpine world championships. The races, which will be held in Bormio, Italy (the Lombardy province) will include the premiere of the World Team Championships. This latter will take place on the last day of the event, February 13th.

The new competition will be held in two heats: a slightly shortened super G and a special slalom. The nations taking part will be able to enter four athletes, two men and two women, for each race. Each athlete will be placed in a heat with competitors from the other nations and his/her team will win points based on his/her position in the group placings.

At the end, the four athletes points will be added up and will determine the overall placings for the nations, thereby deciding the medal winners.

The times for the races have also been confirmed: the speed races (downhill and super G) kick off at 11:45 a.m., and the same timetable is being kept to for the training sessions. The two runs for the special slaloms and the giant slaloms have been fixed for 9:30 a.m. and 13:00 a.m. respectively. The two runs of the Nations World Championships will start at the same times.

Click here to see a very detailed race schedule for the 2005 championships , which run from January 28 to February 13.