Tommy Ford - two different skis for first World Cup victory

A sensational first World Cup victory for Tommy Ford in the Giant Slalom. In the Downhill event the HEAD Rebels celebrated a double victory with Beat Feuz and Johann Clarey, and in the Super-G Matthias Mayer finished third. In the women's races Corinne Suter made it an awesome HEAD weekend with two podium finishes in Lake Louise.

Tommy Ford finally made the breakthrough in his 86th World Cup race. In the Giant Slalom in Beaver Creek he started in the lead on the second run and, despite the difficult weather conditions, managed to clinch victory with the second best time and eight tenths of a second lead overall. With this win and his fourth place in the first Giant Slalom of the season in Sölden, the 30-year-old American takes the lead in the ranking for this discipline. "I'm very pleased I managed to win in front of my home crowd," said the first-time winner at the finish.

"We have been working on optimising everything for Tommy Ford since the summer. The Sölden result was a solid step forward. When he won in Beaver Creek, he skied each run with different skis because we knew that the second run would be different from the first. His service man's decision was spot-on," says HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. Mathieu Faivre from France finished sixth, Ted Ligety from the USA eleventh and Matts Olsson from Sweden twelfth. Sölden winner Alexis Pinturault had to be content with 17th place after two sketchy runs.

Beat Feuz followed by Johan Clarey for a double Downhill victory

There was a double victory for the HEAD team in the challenging Downhill on Saturday. Beat Feuz from Switzerland won on a shortened course, like in 2018, because strong winds closed the top flat section of the run. This victory puts him in the lead in the Downhill World Cup. "I like the aggressive artificial snow in Beaver Creek, and I enjoy the slope too - especially the technical sections," says Feuz by way of explaining his triumphant result. Following the 2019 Downhill World Cup winner, Frenchman Johan Clarey took second place just 41 hundredths of a second behind. The strong result by the HEAD Rebels was completed by Dominik Schwaiger from Germany in seventh place, Kjetil Jansrud from Norway and Adrien Theaux from France in joint ninth place and Christian Walder from Austria in 15th place.

Matthias Mayer third despite hip injury

In the Super-G on Friday Matthias Mayer delivered another podium finish for the HEAD team. The Austrian, who injured his hip during training, was pleased with his third place in Beaver Creek following his first Super-G victory in Lake Louise. Mayer also benefited from the cancellation of the last Downhill training run. "That gave me one more day to rest. I still felt my injury slightly. But during the race my focus on skiing makes me forget all about that," says Mayer. Alexis Pinturault put in an excellent performance in the Super-G to finish fourth. Among the top 15 Mattia Casse from Italy came tenth, Kjetil Jansrud eleventh and Beat Feuz 15th.

Two podium finishes for Corinne Suter in Lake Louise

Corinne Suter from Switzerland was on top form in the two women's Downhill runs in Lake Louise. On Friday she achieved her best World Cup result so far in second place. The 25-year-old missed her first victory by just 35 hundredths of a second. Suter reinforced her Friday's performance with a fifth place on Saturday. "During the training runs I knew that I was fast. But that I was so far at the front, I'm really delighted about that," said Suter in the finish following her second place. To round off an awesome weekend, the Swiss athlete bagged her next podium finish with third place in the Super-G in Lake Louise. In the top 15 in the Super-G Tina Weirather from Liechtenstein finished ninth, Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland twelfth, Alice McKennis from the USA 13th and Kajsa Vickhoff Lie from Norway 14th.

Nina Ortlieb also created a stir in the Downhill events. The 23-year-old Austrian finished fourth on Friday, achieving her best result in the World Cup. "I was so incredibly happy that it went so well. Now I am looking forward to a great season," says Nina Ortlieb, who finished twelfth on Saturday. Kajsa Vickhoff Lie finished eleventh on Friday and Alice McKennis was tenth on Saturday.