Two victories for the HEAD World Cup Rebels in Wengen

Matthias Mayer celebrated a sensational victory at the Combined event in Wengen on Friday. Second place went to his HEAD team-mate Alexis Pinturault. That was followed by Beat Feuz's awesome third victory on the Lauberhorn run on Saturday.

Matthias Mayer confirmed his strong training performance in Wengen with the fastest Downhill time in the Combined event. The Austrian started the Slalom with bib number one and caused a real sensation with the fourth fastest time in the technical event. "I was able to attack well in the Slalom; I felt really good. The Slalom is an event where I could easily be out after five gates. I just got it spot on, which is awesome," said a delighted Matthias Mayer at the finish. It was the 29-year-old's seventh World Cup victory, his first in a Combined event.

Alexis Pinturault in second place with the best Slalom time

Alexis Pinturault finished second, just seven hundredths of a second behind Mayer. The French athlete had the best time in the Slalom. In the Downhill he was in 19th place. "I attacked right from the start, but I jumped too far. My knees are okay though," Pinturault was happy not to have sustained any injuries on the Downhill run. As the leader in the Combined Event World Cup, the 28-year-old has notched up 180 points in two races. Kjetil Jansrud from Norway finished in seventh place, Gilles Roulin from Switzerland finished in 15th place with the second fastest time in the Downhill.

"The Combined event with the winner Matthias Mayer was of course a special highlight. I have never seen him ski Slalom so well. The fourth best time in the Slalom event was an awesome achievement," said HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. "Alexis also performed very well in the Downhill and put in a super Slalom."

A very special relationship for Beat Feuz

In the Downhill race on Saturday it was Beat Feuz who scored 100 World Cup points on a shortened course. Following wins in 2012 and 2018, this is the third victory for the Swiss athlete in this World Cup classic on the Lauberhorn run. "I competed here for the first time ten years ago. I thought I'd never get to like this run. It's long, it has flat sections in it. Everything I don't really like. Somehow, three years later, it worked. Since then we've developed a special relationship," is how Beat Feuz explained his success. With this victory the Swiss athlete has once again taken the lead in the Downhill World Cup.

Combined event winner Matthias Mayer finishes fourth in the Downhill

Combined event winner Matthias Mayer took fourth place just 38 hundredths of a second behind in the Downhill, narrowly missing a better placing as the result of a small mistake after the tunnel. "I was jolted out of my squat position. There's a flat gliding section where you can see tenths of a second fall away," said Mayer. Starting with bib number 34, the Swiss athlete Ralph Weber achieved his best World Cup result so far in tenth place. Eleventh place went to Kjetil Jansrud and 15th place to Mattia Casse from Italy.

"For Beat, winning Wengen for the third time was an awesome result. Shame that Matthias made that one mistake, otherwise a double victory would have been possible. But he also put in a very good performance," explained Rainer Salzgeber.

During the final Slalom in Wengen, Jonathan Nordbotten from Norway with bib number 40 achieved his best result of the season so far in 13th place. Alexis Pinturault went out on the second run, while Andre Myhrer from Switzerland was out on the first.

Holdener just missed the podium in Sestriere

In the women's race Wendy Holdener finished fourth in the Giant Slalom in Sestriere on Saturday. On the second run the Swiss athlete clocked the second fastest time. Also in the top 15 were Sara Hector from Sweden in eighth place and Coralie Frasse-Sombet from France in eleventh place. Sunday saw the introduction of a new discipline in Sestriere: Parallel Giant Slalom. Among the top 15 in this event were Wendy Holdener in tenth place, Sara Hector in twelfth place, Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland in 13th place and Lara Pirovano from Italy in 14th place.