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." 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 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. 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. 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.

 

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. 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.