Andy Devaney
The St Moritz Downhill has a habit of sorting the bold from the brittle, and on Saturday it did exactly that, crowning a new winner and reaffirming an old champion’s authority. Emma Aicher took her first victory of the season in commanding style, while Lindsey Vonn, never one to waste momentum, followed up Friday’s triumph with second place to leave Switzerland as the Downhill World Cup leader.
It was another muscular showing from the HEAD Worldcup Rebels, a team increasingly comfortable turning raw speed into hard currency. Aicher, still only 22, looked calm, assured and entirely at home on one of the circuit’s most demanding tracks. Vonn, meanwhile, proved that form, like class, has a long memory.
HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber summed it up without fuss or flourish, just facts. “Emma Aicher’s victory followed by Lindsey Vonn in second place in the Downhill was sensational. Everyone in the team skied at a very high level. The Super-G was a difficult race. For Lindsey, the podium was so close. Several younger athletes skied very well too, so it was a superb result overall in the Super-G as well,” he said.
“In the men’s Slalom, Oscar Andreas Sandvik, Hans Grahl-Madsen and Matthias Iten were all in the top ten, which is a good result. It was a challenging race. Very little water had been used to prepare the run, which is why it deteriorated so quickly. The sun also disappeared during the second run, meaning that the first starters had an advantage. Atle Lie McGrath dropping out was a major setback, naturally. He had skied very well right up to that point. There were eleven of our athletes on the second run, and that’s very satisfying.”
“I just wanted to do my thing”
Aicher arrived in St Moritz with confidence already banked. Two wins last March — Downhill in Kvitfjell and Super-G in La Thuile — had marked her out as more than a one-discipline threat. This season she has added polish to power, versatility to speed.
After a third-place Slalom finish in Levi back in November, the St Moritz Downhill victory felt like the logical next step rather than a surprise. “I wanted to have more confidence in myself this season, and I am happy that I have managed to do that. I just wanted to do my thing. I am satisfied with my performance, and it’s getting better from one run to the next,” said a delighted Emma Aicher at the finish.
Vonn Builds a Lead the Hard Way
Just 24 hundredths of a second separated Vonn from the top step, but second place was enough to secure 180 points and pole position in the Downhill World Cup standings. At 41, she continues to ski with the appetite of a rookie and the judgment of a veteran who’s seen every version of this sport.
“I was too tight taking the jump in the middle. Reaching the podium though, I have to be happy with that. When I have got the speed then I know that everything is possible. I am very happy with my speed,” said Lindsey Vonn.
Rebels Everywhere You Look
Depth, not just star power, defined the weekend. Six HEAD Worldcup Rebels finished inside the top ten in the Downhill, led by Laura Pirovano in sixth and followed by Magdalena Egger, Nina Ortlieb and Ariane Rädler in seventh, eighth and tenth.
World Cup points were also claimed by Cornelia Hütter (16th), Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (18th), Keely Cashman and Allison Mollin (21st and 22nd), Delia Durrer (25th), Laura Gauche (26th), Elena Curtoni (28th) and Nadine Fest (30th).
Super-G Fine Margins, Strong Message
Sunday’s Super-G rounded off a bruising weekend in St Moritz. The podium stayed just out of reach, but only just. Vonn missed out by eight hundredths of a second in fourth, while six Rebels again filled the top ten — a quiet statement of consistency on a demanding course.
Further points followed down the order, underlining a team performance built on preparation rather than fortune.
Sandvik Steps Forward in Val d’Isère
Away from Switzerland, progress continued. In the men’s Slalom at Val d’Isère, Oscar Andreas Sandvik delivered a breakthrough fifth place — the best World Cup result of his young career. Hans Grahl-Madsen and Matthias Iten also impressed, finishing sixth and tenth respectively after starting deep in the field.
More points came from Laurie Taylor, Albert Popov, Armand Marchant, Johannes Strolz and Billy Major, while in Saturday’s Giant Slalom Alexander Schmid led the HEAD charge in 13th.
Across disciplines, venues and conditions, the message was consistent: speed is one thing, but control wins weekends. At the St Moritz Downhill, the Rebels had both.
