100,000 tons of fresh snow on the race pistes stopped play last weekend at the 2001 World Alpine Ski Championships in St Anton, in the Arlberg region of Austria.

The championships are held every two years, and this year St Anton, the birthplace of modern ski technique was chosen to host the first championships of the new millennium.

Since the weekend's snow and warm temperatures, officials have worked night and day to prepare the pistes to continue the races which must be finished by next weekend, as the tourist season is at its height in the Alps and accommodation is at a premium.

Last week, Regine Cavagnoud from France won the women's super giant slalom (Super-G) while Daron Rahlves of the US took gold in the men's Super-G. The women's combined, which is the aggregate of downhill and slalom, was won by Martina Ertle of Germany.

So, at the end of the first week Austria were without a gold medal, and, from the birthplace of Alpine skiing, the tension was obvious from the reaction of the huge crowds who turned out to support their idols.

After clearing the new snow from the race pistes, Monday night saw the start of the men's combined. Normally the downhill takes place first but because this piste was not ready, it was decided to run a night slalom for the men.

Victory went to Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt with Austria's Mario Matt one-tenth of a second behind. The second part of the combined downhill was held yesterday and after a great run by Matt, which finally gave the Austrian crowd something to cheer about, it looked like Austria might earn its first gold. It was not to be. Aamodt kept his head and squeezed ahead to take the gold for Norway.

Austria's luck was about to change with the women's downhill. The crowd went wild as Selina Heregger skied to third place as Renata Goetschl took second by three-hundredths of a second. Michaela Dorfmeister got a tremendous reception as she finished fourteen-hundredths ahead for victory.

Irish interest begins today when 18-year-old Tamsen McGarry from Dublin starts in the slalom. Tamsen has deferred College for two years to concentrate on ski racing and says of the World Championships: "The experience of mixing with the best skiers in the world is a great opportunity to learn to cope with the stress of top level racing."

Tomorrow will see Irish skiers Pauli Schwarzacher-Joyce from St Anton, and Thos Foley, from Kenmare, take the stage for the men's giant slalom.