The Austrian town is hosting an additional women’s giant slalom competition, following the cancellation of the race in French resort Courchevel on Tuesday (December 20).

The programme in Semmering will now comprise two giant slalom races, scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday (December 28), as well as a slalom race on Thursday (December 29).

The giant slalom in Courchevel was cancelled due to strong winds.

Action was initially postponed after 19 skiers had descended and a decision was made to re-start the race from scratch, with competitors beginning at the reserve start position 70 metres down the slope.

Skiers had inspected this start point in the morning - knowing it was a possibility - but the re-start never took place as winds remained consistently strong.

American Mikaela Shiffrin currently leads the overall World Cup standings on 498 points, five clear of defending champion Lara Gut of Switzerland.

The giant slalom leaderboard is headed by France’s Tessa Worley on 240 points, with three races in the discipline already taken place.

Meanwhile, there will be a busy men’s programme at Santa Caterina over the coming days.

A Super G race is penciled in for tomorrow which will then be followed by the men’s downhill race on Wednesday.

The meeting will then draw to a close with the men’s alpine combined event on Thursday.

Last week, Henrik Kristoffersen secured his second consecutive World Cup slalom victory as the Norwegian triumphed in Madonna di Campiglio.

The Sochi 2014 Olympic bronze medallist headed into the event as the defending champion at the Italian resort as he looked to close the gap to Austria’s Marcel Hirscher at the top of the overall standings.

The race win saw Kristoffersen move onto 200 points for the World Cup, having added to his triumph in Val d'Isère two weeks ago.

He lies 60 points adrift of Hirscher in the standings, as the Norwegian looks to defend the overall crown he claimed last year.