First victory of the season for Sara Hector

The HEAD Worldcup Rebels once again celebrate a bunch of podiums this weekend, with Sara Hector winning her first victory of the season in the Giant Slalom in Špindlerův Mlýn on Saturday. In the Slalom on Sunday, Camille Rast and Emma Aicher podium in second and third place. Franjo von Allmen and Stefan Babinsky also finish second and third in the men's Super-G in Kitzbühel on Friday. And Linus Straßer rounds off the World Cup weekend on the podium in third place in the Slalom in Kitzbühel.

"Sara Hector has regained her confidence. She is skiing at full speed again, which makes her one of the fastest. This is the perfect build-up to the Olympics. We had a sensational Slalom event with seven athletes in the top ten. Both runs were set to be extremely fast. Camille Rast did an excellent job," said HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. "The Kitzbühel weekend also went very well for us, apart from the Downhill. We will never know what Franjo von Allmen could have managed in the Downhill, but he knows that he has the speed. Stefan Babinsky, on the podium for the second time in a row, is also very positive in the lead-up to the Olympics. And a podium for Linus Straßer, with his connection to Kitzbühel and new to the team, was also a very special result. It's great that he takes his first podium for HEAD at such a major event. It shows that he is on the right track and that he is one of the fastest. That was a perfect finish to the weekend."

Sara Hector wins her eighth World Cup victory

On Saturday, Sara Hector celebrated her first victory of the season, her eighth overall, in the Giant Slalom in Špindlerův Mlýn in the Czech Republic. The Swedish athlete clocked the fastest time on the first run and defended her lead on the second run with the third-fastest time. "I watched Paula Moltzan's run. Not everything was ideal on my run, which is why I went flat out. It worked, and the lower part was really good to ski. I am super happy. I've always done my best and I'm delighted with this result," explained Sara Hector at the finish.

Camille Rast narrows the gap in the Giant Slalom World Cup

In second place after the first run, Camille Rast secured fourth place overall with the fourth-fastest time on run two. As a result, the Swiss athlete has reduced the gap to Julia Scheib in the Giant Slalom World Cup to 89 points. Another 42 points behind her is Sara Hector in third place. The top ten also included A J Hurt from the USA in eighth place and Emma Aicher from Germany in tenth place. Vanessa Kasper from Switzerland finished eleventh, Stephanie Brunner from Austria 16th, Ilaria Ghisalberti from Italy 18th, Wendy Holdener from Switzerland 20th, Lena Dürr from Germany 22nd, Doriane Escane from France 24th, and Estelle Alphand from Sweden 26th.

Camille Rast and Emma Aicher podium in the Slalom

Two HEAD athletes finished on the podium in the Slalom in Špindlerův Mlýn on Sunday with Camille Rast second and Emma Aicher third. This is the eighth podium finish of the season for Camille Rast, her fifth in the Slalom. The Swiss athlete was in fourth place after the first run, and finished second overall having clocked the second-fastest time on run two. Emma Aicher is delighted with third place number three in the Slalom this season following Levi and Courchevel.

Seven HEAD Worldcup Rebels in the top ten

This was an impressive team performance by the HEAD Worldcup Rebels with no fewer than seven athletes finishing in the top ten. In addition to Camille Rast and Emma Aicher, Wendy Holdener finished fifth, Anna Swenn-Larsson, Cornelia Öhlund and Sara Hector - all three from Sweden - finished sixth, seventh and ninth, and Lena Dürr was tenth. Swiss athletes Eliane Christen in 16th place, Doriane Escane 23rd, and Estelle Alphand 25th, also scored World Cup points.

Franjo von Allmen three hundredths of a second away from victory

Two HEAD Worldcup Rebels podiumed in the Super-G in Kitzbühel on Friday, with Franjo von Allmen in second place, and Stefan Babinsky third. Franjo von Allmen missed victory by just three hundredths of a second. For the 24-year-old Swiss athlete, this is his first podium finish in Kitzbühel and his best Super-G result of the season so far. "I was very disappointed at first. But standing on the podium with Marco gives you a great feeling, especially because there are only three hundredths of a second between us. It's very nice to take a Kitzbühel chamois trophy home with you," said Franjo von Allmen.

Stefan Babinsky podiums for the second time in a row

A week ago, Stefan Babinsky podiumed for the first time in his career in the Super-G in Wengen. In Kitzbühel, the 29-year-old Austrian athlete followed that with another third place in the Super-G. "It is indescribable, an extremely exciting race! It was a pretty good run, apart from when I briefly snagged the wrong edge on the finishing slope. That was not the quickest way to the finish. I'm satisfied with my performance and skied well," said Stefan Babinsky. Vincent Kriechmayr from Austria also finished in the top ten in seventh place, and in the top 30 were Nils Alphand from France in 13th place, and Matthieu Bailet from France and James Crawford from Canada, who shared 21st place. In the Downhill in Kitzbühel on Saturday, Vincent Kriechmayr was the fastest HEAD Worldcup Rebel in 13th place. Points were also picked up by Franjo von Allmen in 16th place, Matthieu Bailet 18th, Erik Arvidsson from the USA 19th, James Crawford 23rd, Alessio Miggiano from Switzerland 26th and Simon Jocher from Germany 30th.

Linus Straßer takes third in the Slalom in Kitzbühel

The World Cup weekend was rounded off on Sunday with the Slalom in Kitzbühel. A HEAD Worldcup Rebel - Linus Straßer - podiumed in this race too. The 33-year-old German athlete finished third to bag his first podium finish of the season. Linus Straßer moved up from tenth place to third on the second run with the third-fastest time. "Things have gone well over the past few weeks. But you have to be able to take the pace you need into the race. That was my aim on the second run. And the result is the cherry on top. I knew that the run wasn't all that bad, and at the bottom it was actually very good," said Linus Straßer. Finishing in sixth place, Armand Marchant from Belgium achieved his best result in Kitzbühel so far. Paco Rassat from France finished 14th, Johannes Strolz from Austria and Benjamin Ritchie from the USA shared 15th place, Dave Ryding from Great Britain was 20th, Albert Popov from Bulgaria 22nd, Hans Grahl-Madsen from Norway 23rd, and Billy Major from Great Britain was 24th.