Despite the recent snowfall over this weekend, the prolonged spell of unusually warm Alpine weather has caused the first race cancellations.

Today the British Ski & Snowboard Federation announced their decision to postpone the 2001 British Land National Ski Championships, scheduled to take place in Saalbach-Hinterglemm next week (13-19 January).

The difficult decision to postpone their premier Alpine event was taken in the light of the cancellations of FIS World Cup Slaloms in Les Arcs and Maribor yesterday.

The event will take place however, and is likely to be held in the first week of March, although the location may change from Saalbach.

In the meantime, leading British slalom skiers Alain Baxter and Johnny Moulder-Brown are preparing in Grindelwald, Switzerland, for Sunday's Classic World Cup Slalom in Wengen.