It has become a traditional start of the new season when one of the major ski brands host their press conference in Soelden. Head is the leading brand in terms of medals won last season, podiums and race wins yet they still crave to win the Overall Globes, won last season by Marcel Hirscher and Michaela Shiffrin. With a roster of top line racers including the likes of Ted Ligety, Aksel Lund Svindal, Anna Veith and Wendy Holdener on show, this was the start of the season.
Ligety is one of the headline acts of World Cup Giant Slalom racing. He is still acknowledged as ‘Mr GS’ yet when asked how he was feeling in the run up to the new season he replied “I am a year clear of the knife,” reflecting on his struggles to remain injury free over the last few years. Ligety has won four times in Soelden and “would love to win again,” he added before continuing “we shall see if Peter wants to hold the races this year!” Last year the weather caused the organisers to cancel the race on the morning much to the consternation of Ligety.
Aksel Lund Svindal is still one of THE names of alpine ski racing. While his off season has been mixed, he was in great form despite admitting his knee had been bad. Svindal acknowledged the support that the Norwegian Ski Federation, Head and his sponsors have all given him in understanding his programme, ‘a pure luxury I enjoy,’ he admitted. While he is aiming to start the season, it is having a target to start the season that is giving him the motivation to keep training.
The Head roster is full of Champions: Andre Myhrer, the Slalom Olympic Champion; Matthias Mayer, Super G Olympic Champion, Wendy Holdener, triple Olympic medallist from Pyeongchang, Beat Feuz, Downhill World Champion from 2017 to name but a few. Myhrer joked that he is now a bigger name in Sweden than Zlatan Ibrahimovich when asked by compere Marco Buechel about the acclaim he now receives in Sweden since winning the Olympic Gold.
Many of the athletes had their own little stories to tell from the summer: Anna Veith announced she is in the process of opening her own sports shop, Veith Sports; Sara Hector had been working on her tractor driving skills this summer; Alexis Pinturault and Mathieu Faivre had been improving their language skills (German and English respectively) while others, including Lara Gut, Stephanie Brunner, Alex Kilde, Tina Weirather and Raghnild Mowinckel were all enjoying being injury free.
With racers from seven nations on show, the Head World Cup Rebels are a truly international group of racers. Add the likes of Lindsey Vonn, Kjetil Jansrud and of course Britain’s own Alex Tilley to the group and Head hope to wrestle the Globes back this season to Kennelbach.