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This major two-week event takes place every other year in an alpine ski resort. Val d'Isere won the bid and will host the event from Jan.. 30 to February 15, 2009. Other candidates included Vail, Colo., and Schladming, Austria.

Val d'Isere has plenty of experience after hosting four Olympic Games events and 150 World Cup races.

"I do not doubt that it will be a success, and Val d'Isère will keep the promises it made for the bid: a Face to Face World Championships, free and environmentally friendly in a festive and white village," says Val d'Isere Mayor Marc Bauer.

The World Championships awards its titles based on the results of slalom, giant slalom, super combined, downhill race, or super G.

Val d'Isere will be one of a chosen few to have organised the Grand Slam event and will sit alongside St Moritz, Chamonix, and Garmisch, after the completion of the championships.

The resort also will benefit from new facilities as a result of the championships, including even finer pistes, an ambitious sports complex, and a pedestrian centre.