FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in the context of "2011 Alpine Skiing World Cup"

Alpine skiing has been contested at every Winter Olympics since 1936, when a combined event was held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

From 1948 to 1980, the Winter Olympics also served as the World Championships in Olympic years, with separate competitions held in even-numbered non-Olympic years. During this period, the Olympic medalists received an additional medal of the same metal from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Val-d'Isère (French pronunciation: [val dizɛʁ], literally Valley of Isère) is a commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region) in southeastern France. It lies 5 km (3 mi) from the border with Italy. It is on the border of the Vanoise National Park created in 1963, with good transport links in and out of Lyon, Geneva and Chambéry.

During the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics, the Face de Bellevarde was the site of the men's downhill race. Other alpine skiing events held during those games included men's giant slalom and alpine combined. Val d'Isère regularly hosts World Cup alpine events, usually for the men in early December, and hosted the World Championships in 2009. The ski area of Val d'Isère and Tignes forms the Espace Killy, named after the triple Olympic champion Jean-Claude Killy who grew up in Val d'Isère. There are two mountain huts (called “refuges” in French) owned by the Vanoise National Park on the territory of Val d'Isère: le Refuge du Prariond and le Refuge du Fond des Fours.

At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, the six alpine skiing events were held from Thursday, 14 February, to Wednesday, 20 February. The downhill and giant slalom events were held at Norefjell in Krødsherad, Buskerud, and the slalom events at Rødkleiva in Oslo.

The giant slalom made its Olympic debut, and the combined event was dropped as an Olympic medal event for four decades, until 1988. It returned as a medal event at the World Championships two years later in 1954, and for the concurrent World Championships in Olympic years from 1956 through 1980. For fourteen World Championships (1954–1980), the combined was a "paper race," using the results from the three events (and required the completion of each).

At the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the six alpine skiing events were held on Piz Nair from Monday, 2 February to Thursday, 5 February 1948.

After these games, the giant slalom was added and the combined event was dropped as an Olympic medal event for four decades, until 1988. From 1956 through 1980, the combined continued as an FIS medal event for the concurrent World Championships, using the results from three events, conducted as a "paper race."

Alpine Skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of six alpine skiing events. The races were held February 14–23 at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, New York, northeast of host Lake Placid.

This was the first Olympics in which the women's giant slalom consisted of two runs, rather than one, and both GS events ran only one run per day. This was the last Olympics which also served as World Championships for alpine skiing.

The Sierra Nevada Ski Station is a ski resort in the Sierra Nevada in the province of Granada in southeastern Spain. The ski area is on the northwestern slopes of Veleta, the third highest peak in Peninsular Spain and the most southerly ski resort in Europe.

The resort hosted the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 1996 and occasionally hosts World Cup races, the last being the women's technical races in 2007. In recent years World Slope and Freestyle events took place at the site, which also hosted the 2015 Winter Universiade, the world university games. In March 2017, Sierra Nevada hosted the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships.

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996 were held 12–25 February in Spain at Sierra Nevada near Granada city. The championships were to be held in 1995, but were postponed due to lack of snow.

Slalom is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline, involving skiing between poles or gates. These are spaced more closely than those in giant slalom, super giant slalom and downhill, necessitating quicker and shorter turns. Internationally, the sport is contested at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, and at the Olympic Winter Games.

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 were the 40th FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, held 2–15 February in France at Val-d'Isère, Savoie.

The International Ski Federation (FIS) awarded the championships to Val-d'Isère on 2 June 2004, in Miami, Florida. The other two finalists were Vail/Beaver Creek, USA, and Schladming, Austria, which was later selected to host the 2013 championships. Vail/Beaver Creek gained the 2015 championships.