The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1999 were held in Vail

Vail Ski Resort

Vail Ski Resort is located in Eagle County, Colorado, next to the town of Vail. Vail Mountain, at , is the largest single mountain ski resort in the United States, featuring seven bowls and intermediate gladed terrain in Blue Sky Basin...

 and Beaver Creek

Beaver Creek Resort

Beaver Creek Resort is a major United States ski resort near Avon, Colorado, run by Vail Resorts. The resort comprises three villages, the main Beaver Creek Village, Bachelor Gulch, and Arrowhead to the west...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, U.S.A., from February 2-14, 1999

1999 Alpine Skiing World Cup

The 33rd World Cup season began in October 1998 in Sölden, Austria, and concluded at the World Cup finals at Sierra Nevada, Spain, in March 1999. The overall winners were Lasse Kjus of Norway and Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria....

.

Lasse Kjus

Lasse Kjus

Lasse Kjus is a retired Norwegian alpine skier who has won the overall World Cup twice, an Olympic gold medal, and several World Championships...

 of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 placed in the top two in all five events, winning two gold medals and taking three silvers. Hermann Maier

Hermann Maier

Hermann Maier is an Austrian former alpine ski racer. Maier ranks among the finest alpine ski racers in history, having won four overall World Cup titles , two Olympic gold medals , and three World Championship titles...

 of Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 won gold medals in the two speed events, the downhill and Super-G

Super Giant Slalom skiing

The Super Giant Slalom is an Alpine skiing discipline. It is usually referred to as Super G and is a "speed" event, along with the faster Downhill event; the Giant Slalom and Slalom events are known as the "technical" disciplines.-History:...

 (a dead-heat tie with Kjus). Austria dominated the women's two speed events, sweeping all six medals.

This was the third non-Olympic World Championships held in the U.S., all in Colorado (the 1960 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held in Squaw Valley, California, U.S.A., from February 20–26, 1960.These were the last Olympics with times recorded in tenths of a second; times in 1964 were recorded in hundredths....

 in Squaw Valley, CA, and the 1980 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held near Lake Placid, New York, U.S.A.. The races were held at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington from February 14–23, 1980....

 in Lake Placid, NY, are also officially considered to be World Championships). Vail hosted a decade earlier, in 1989

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1989

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1989 were held in Vail, Colorado, U.S.A., from February 2-12, 1989.Vail and Beaver Creek would also host the World Championships a decade later, in 1999....

, and Aspen

Aspen Mountain (ski area)

Aspen Mountain is a ski area located in Pitkin County, Colorado, just outside and above the city of Aspen. It is situated on the north flank of Aspen Mountain and the higher Bell Mountain at an elevation of 11,212 ft just to the south of Aspen Mountain...

 in 1950

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1950

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1950 were held February 13-18, 1950, on Ajax Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, U.S.A.These were the first World Championships held outside of Europe, and the first official world championships since 1939...

, the first held outside of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. As a host country, the U.S. has won just two medals in the three World Championships, a gold and a bronze by Tamara McKinney

Tamara McKinney

Tamara McKinney is a former alpine ski racer, a member of the U.S. Ski Team from 1978-89. She was the overall World Cup champion in 1983, the only American woman to hold that title for a quarter century, until Lindsey Vonn in 2008....

in 1989.