Andy Devaney
If you’d tried to script a better weekend for the HEAD Worldcup Rebels, you’d have needed a Hollywood budget, a friendly editor, and perhaps a mild disregard for plausibility. In the space of a few breathless days, the Rebels collected wins, podiums, and enough momentum to make the rest of the World Cup field start checking their bindings twice.
Start with Sunday’s double scoop: Emma Aicher and Lindsey Vonn went one-two in the Super-G in Tarvisio, while Atle Lie McGrath did that rare thing in Wengen—make the slalom look like a childhood daydream that just happens to be timed to the hundredth.
And that was only the headline act. Stefan Babinsky finished second in Friday’s Wengen Super-G, Franjo von Allmen grabbed third, Vincent Kriechmayr went second in Saturday’s shortened Lauberhorn Downhill, and Vonn added a Downhill third in Tarvisio to extend a season-long streak that’s bordering on impolite.
As HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber put it—accurately, and with the sort of satisfaction you hear in a ski room when the wax finally behaves— “That was a really special weekend for us. Atle Lie McGrath has won in Wengen for the second time in a row in supreme style. Matthias Iten also put in an awesome performance. The younger athletes are moving up, and that is really fun to see,” said HEAD Racing Director, Rainer Salzgeber.
“The speed events in Wengen were also super exciting. Stefan Babinsky on the podium for the first time is also very important in terms of qualifying for the Olympics. Franjo von Allmen skied amazingly well in both races. And for Vincent Kriechmayr, this is confirmation that he is right on track.
The women’s Downhill race in Tarvisio is special because the athletes are skiing in the tuck position most of the time. Such a strong result with the team finishing in places three to six shows that the equipment is doing its job. In the neck-and-neck race between Emma Aicher and Lindsey Vonn, the approach to the last jump was decisive. It’s great to see younger and older athletes duelling like this.”
That, in one sprawling paragraph, is your weekend: a full-spectrum performance—slalom finesse, Super-G nerve, Downhill courage—delivered by a group that is starting to look less like a team and more like a travelling storm front.
Wengen slalom: McGrath makes it five, and makes it look familiar
Wengen can humble the best of them. It’s steep, it’s fast, and it has a way of punishing the slightest lapse in judgement—rather like ordering the fish in an airport. But McGrath arrived with the poise of a man who knows exactly where the line is, and has already decided to ski just the wrong side of it.
His win marked the fifth World Cup victory of his career—five slalom victories, and the second in Wengen after 2025. Leading after the first run, he sealed it by posting the fourth-fastest time on run two: not the flashiest split, perhaps, but the sort of controlled violence that wins races on Sundays.
And then came the confession that tells you everything about why this place matters to racers: “Wengen is so special, it is so cool to ski here. It really is a childhood dream for me, and it has come true again. I saw the way Lucas skied, and knew that I had to go flat out. It was so good, just perfect!” said Atle Lie McGrath.
The supporting cast was equally lively. Matthias Iten, starting with bib 44, produced the kind of second run that makes coaches simultaneously proud and suspicious. He went from 23rd after run one to sixth overall, clocking the fastest time on run two—his best World Cup result, and in front of his home crowd.
Add points for Linus Straßer (11th), Hans Grahl-Madsen (17th), Oscar Andreas Sandvik (23rd), Armand Marchant (25th), and Johannes Strolz (28th), and you had a slalom day that read like a roll-call of athletes discovering another gear.
For the HEAD Worldcup Rebels, it was the perfect blend: a headline win, and a depth chart that looks healthier by the week.
Wengen speed week: firsts, fractions, and a podium that mattered
If slalom is chess at 80kph, Wengen’s speed races are more like trying to land a plane on a country road while someone reads you poetry. It’s fast, it’s technical, and it’s mentally exhausting—especially on the Lauberhorn, where bravery is not optional.
Friday’s Super-G delivered a breakthrough that had been knocking at the door for a while. Stefan Babinsky finished second in his 94th World Cup start to land his first career podium—one of those results that arrives after enough fourth places to test the stitching on your patience.
Babinsky didn’t dress it up. He explained it like someone who’s spent a career sanding down tiny imperfections until they finally disappear:
“It’s extremely awesome. I have had several fourth places, and those fourth places kept me motivated to make it happen. It has always been about just a few little things, and I’ve been working on them over the last few weeks. I have always tried to remain true to my objectives, and I have always believed that I can do it. I’m very pleased with my performance. I managed to ski the course exactly the way I planned. I didn’t ski the final S curves into the finish as well as I wanted. The speed is very high from top to bottom. It’s an insane battle and you need to be fully focused,” said Stefan Babinsky.
Right behind him, Franjo von Allmen took third—his fourth podium of the season and his second Super-G podium since Livigno. And he said the quiet part out loud: even on a podium run, you’re one misjudged section from paying interest on your mistakes.
“It wasn’t perfect on Canadian Corner. That wasn’t the way I planned it. That’s why I was surprised at being in third place when I crossed the finish line. A mistake like that catches you out, but you have to immediately concentrate fully on the course again,” says Franjo von Allmen.
Saturday’s Lauberhorn Downhill—run on a shortened course due to strong winds in the upper section—delivered another major result: Vincent Kriechmayr finished second for his first Downhill podium of the season, adding to an already strong Super-G campaign that includes a win and a second place.
He summed it up the way speed skiers often do: minimal fuss, maximum clarity. “I made sure I got back on track, and managed to ski an excellent race today. I’m delighted with second place. I tried to ski at the limit from top to bottom, because that is what it takes,” explained Vincent Kriechmayr.
Von Allmen finished fourth, missing the podium by three hundredths—an amount of time best measured in eyelashes. And elsewhere, strong points came in for Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Henrik von Appen (best Downhill result so far, starting bib 50), Justin Murisier, Simon Jocher and James Crawford.
Tarvisio Super-G: Aicher wins, Vonn follows, and the duel feels timeless
If Wengen is about history and hazard, Tarvisio is about rhythm—especially in Downhill, where racers spend much of the run in the tuck, committing early and paying later.
On Sunday, Emma Aicher delivered her fourth World Cup victory and her second in the Super-G, with a run that sounded—based on her own verdict—like relief and joy braided together.
“I was happy with my skiing from top to bottom. There have always been a few mistakes in the last few races, but this time everything went well. I am enjoying skiing, and I’m so happy to be competing. I focus on my technique and always try to ski as well as possible,” said Emma Aicher, delighted, at the finish.
Second was Lindsey Vonn, and Tarvisio continues to treat her like a cherished regular at the local café: she stood on the podium for the eighth race in a row at this venue, and it was her best Super-G result of the season.
Vonn, never one to confuse contentment with complacency, was already thinking about where the next sliver of time might be found:
“This second place is great because things haven’t gone as well in the super-G so far this season as they have in the Downhill. I’m a bit annoyed with myself because the gap behind first place is so close. I hope I get these ten-hundredths of a second back in Cortina,” said Lindsey Vonn.
Keely Cashman took fifth for her best World Cup result so far, with Kajsa Vickhoff Lie seventh and Laura Pirovano tenth. The top 30 included Cornelia Hütter, Laura Gauche, Elena Curtoni, Nina Ortlieb, Ariane Rädler, Allison Mollin, Nadine Fest and Corinne Suter—evidence of a deep, competitive day where clean skiing was rewarded.
Downhill standings: Vonn extends her lead, and the Rebels stack the top six
On Saturday in Tarvisio, Vonn finished third in the Downhill—and with it extended her lead in the Downhill discipline rankings to 400 points. She’s now podiumed in all five Downhill races this season: two wins (St. Moritz and Zauchensee), second in St. Moritz, and two thirds (Val d’Isère and Tarvisio). That’s not a hot streak. That’s a season-long statement.
Her assessment was vintage Vonn: honest, direct, and entirely aware of the margins.
“It went well. I was very close to the fence, but was able to keep up my speed very well for these conditions. I’m close to the top and, considering the circumstances, I’m pretty satisfied with that,” said Lindsey Vonn.
Then came the statistic that makes equipment reps sleep better at night and rivals slightly queasy at breakfast: four HEAD Worldcup Rebels in the top six, with Nina Ortlieb fourth, Aicher fifth, and Pirovano sixth. Add more top-30 finishes across the roster, and it rounded off a weekend that was big on trophies and even bigger on indicators.
What this weekend really says about the HEAD Worldcup Rebels
Wins are wonderful. Podiums are priceless. But the real story for the HEAD Worldcup Rebels is the spread: slalom to speed, veterans to rising names, tight margins won rather than gifted. When a team can do that across Wengen and Tarvisio, it suggests form, confidence, and a pipeline that keeps producing.
And if you’re looking for the moment that sums it up: it might be that last jump approach in Tarvisio, the one Salzgeber referenced—where youth and experience met at full throttle and refused to blink.
