With nearly two thousand years of history and a thousand years of welcoming visitors, thanks mainly to the thermal springs where the Romans used to unwind, Bormio is one of the World Cup hosts par excellence.

Firmly set in alpine folklore, the town located in the centre of the Italian Alps, at an altitude of 1225 meters, now ranks as a not-to-miss stopover in the World Cup calendar despite being regarded as a permanent fixture only since 1993 when the famous Stelvio downhill run was given a facelift.

Designed to emphasize both the technical and spectacular aspects of the "Queen of Alpine Skiing", the Stelvio run is one of the few downhill courses where the finishing line can be viewed from the starting gate.

The piste is regarded as one of the most prestigious meets in the men's series - the challenge to successfully navigate the 3100 metre course with a drop of almost 1000 metres challenges even the most fearless speed kings.

However, before Bormio entertained us with the first men's downhill in 1983, won by Austria Hannes Trinkl, the first World Cup event, taking place three years earlier, was exclusively for women, when Perrine Pelen won the slalom. The French champion returned to bring down the curtain on her career in the 1985 World Championships by winning the slalom, even though the star of the show was Pirmin Zurbriggen, with gold in the downhill and combined.

The most famous skiing resort of the Valtellina Valley, near the Swiss border, hosted the World Championships once again in 2005 as well as the World Cup Finals in 1995, 2000 and 2008.

From what started as a dream became reality in 1995, when only one resort was chosen to host the final races in all disciplines and local hero Alberto Tomba pulled on all his resources in front of 20 000 delirious fans to win the giant slalom crown, having already secured the slalom and overall title.

Aptly for the 2000 Finals, Hermann Maier reached the 2000-point mark for the season when he stormed to win the super-G, his tenth victory of the season, by almost two seconds ahead of his nearest rival, for the biggest winning margin in any super-G race in the history of the FIS World Cup.

While rivals Anja Paerson and Janica Kostelic shared all five medals in the women's 2005 World Championships, the Croat bettering the Swede by one medal, American Bode Miller represented the only line of defence offered by the rest of the world to halt an Austrian clean sweep in the men's competitions.

It was Miller time once again in the 2008 finals with the US all-rounder winning his second overall crown with one race to spare despite not racing, making it a World Cup double for the USA after Lindsey Vonn had already secured the women's honors.