Kjetil Jansrud ends his successful career

Norwegian athlete Kjetil Jansrud - a very big name in the Alpine Skiing World Cup - says goodbye after almost two decades. The 36-year-old Olympic and World Champion competed in his last race in the Downhill on Saturday in his home town of Kvitfjell. In Kvitfjell and Lenzerheide, the HEAD Worldcup Rebels podiumed six times over the weekend. Canadian athlete James Crawford celebrated his first podium in second place in the Super-G in Kvitfjell on Sunday.

"Kjetil Jansrud has enjoyed an impressive career. We have experienced many truly great moments with him since 2010, and it is a sad moment when we see such a strong character leave the sport," says HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. "But he deserves to finally be able to spend more time with his family. That is one of the main reasons for his resignation. For Scandinavian athletes, the season is even more time-consuming than for Central Europeans because they have to travel even more. He has a fulfilling time ahead of him, though, and it would be a great story if a guy like him stayed in skiing. James Crawford had a superb race on Sunday. Following his Olympic medal, this was certainly another highlight for him. He showed what he's capable of achieving. For Justin Murisier, who now looks like he wants to compete more in the speed disciplines, Sunday's race was also an important step."

"I am sure I'll be back in one role or another"

Kjetil Jansrud, who made his World Cup debut in Wengen in January 2003, was crowned Olympic Champion (Super-G in Sochi 2014) and World Champion (Downhill 2019 in Aare) during his successful career. In addition, there were another four Olympic medals and two World Championship medals. Kjetil Jansrud won the Super-G World Cup three times (2015, 2017 and 2018), the Downhill World Cup once (2015) and bagged 23 World Cup race victories - 13 in Super-G, eight in Downhill and one each in the Combined and Parallel events. "I am very pleased that so many fans are here for my last race. It is very special for me. It's a dangerous sport and you have to be very focused. At the finish, however, the emotion was overwhelming. I could feel that my love for the sport was still there. I have not decided anything yet, but I am sure I'll be back in one form or another," the Norwegian athlete explained after his last race.

"I will give the final race everything I've got"

Beat Feuz raced to third place on the podium in the Downhill on Saturday. "I didn't ski that run perfectly. I made a couple of mistakes. It wasn't an easy one, also in terms of physical performance. I'm doing my best and will give the final race everything I've got," said the Swiss athlete, 23 points behind Aleksander Aamodt Kilde who leads the discipline ranking before the final Downhill event. Ryan Cochran-Siegle from the USA finished fifth, Vincent Kriechmayr from Austria was sixth, Josef Ferstl from Germany tenth, Matthias Mayer from Austria eleventh, Johan Clarey from France 14th and James Crawford from Canada 15th.

Eight HEAD Worldcup Rebels in the top 14

In the first Downhill race in Kvitfjell on Friday, eight HEAD Worldcup Rebels ranked among the top 14. Matthias Mayer finished third, just twelve-hundredths of a second short of victory. Beat Feuz finished fourth, another seven-hundredths of a second behind Mayer. Johan Clarey followed in sixth place and Simon Jocher in seventh. For the German athlete it was his best World Cup result so far. Previously, his best result was an eighth place in the Downhill in Val Gardena in December 2021. Guglielmo Bosca from Italy was delighted with his first top-ten result in the World Cup in ninth place. Ryan Cochran-Siegle was eleventh, James Crawford 13th and Nicolo Molteni 14th, having started with bib number 54. It was the first time the Italian athlete bagged World Cup points.

Five HEAD World Cup Rebels in the top 7

The Super-G - the final race in Kvitfjell on Sunday - also delivered a top result for HEAD. James Crawford in second place and Matthias Mayer third, put two HEAD athletes on the podium. For Crawford, it was the first World Cup podium finish in his career. The 24-year-old was just seven-hundredths of a second behind Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. Beat Feuz finished fifth, Justin Murisier from Switzerland sixth and Vincent Kriechmayr seventh. Eleventh place was shared by Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Stefan Babinsky from Austria.

Sara Hector defends her lead in the discipline ranking

Sara Hector continued her great run of success with another podium finish: third place in the Giant Slalom in Lenzerheide on Sunday. The Olympic Champion was still in first place after the first run, and with third place overall she successfully defended her lead in the discipline ranking with two more Giant Slalom events to go this season. Seventh, eighth and ninth place went to Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway, Wendy Holdener of Switzerland and Coralie Frasse-Sombet of France. Also among the top 15: Camille Rast from Switzerland finished twelfth and Maria Therese Tviberg from Norway was 14th.

The fifth podium finish this season for Lara Gut-Behrami

Lara Gut-Behrami finished third in the Super-G in Lenzerheide on Saturday, celebrating her fifth podium finish of the season in her home race. Ragnhild Mowinckel finished fifth, Laura Gauche from France ninth and Wendy Holdener eleventh. 13th place went to Karoline Pichler - the 27-year-old Italian's best World Cup result so far. Stephanie Venier from Austria finished in 15th place.