Skis of the Stars: What Shiffrin, Lara Gut, Rebensburg, Lindsey Vonn, and Mancuso Take Off On

The fact that things with the world’s best female skiers is close to approaching the soccer transfer market can be easily explained with the example of Stöckli. The Swiss ski maker had signed Tina Maze years ago, and thus landed an absolute slam-dunk from a marketing perspective.

The Slovene, one of the most complete ski racers of her time, was one of the very few athletes to succeed in the feat of winning all five disciplines in one World Cup season. She was also a repeat Olympic champion and World Cup winner, gaining 26 World Cup wins and on the pedestal another few dozen times – with her Swiss skis in hand. In the 2012/2013 season, she reached 2,414 World Cup points: a record!

The one problem with such an athlete, from a sponsor perspective, is the fact that such a fine career has its limits. At age 33, Maze announced that she would be ending her career after the 2016/17 World Cup, and only wanted to contend in a farewell race in her hometown of Maribor. A bitter loss for Stöckli.

Read here which skis are in demand in the men’s World Cup, and why Marcel Hirscher is causing some stress >>>

Rebensburg “inheriting” technician from Maze

The Swiss were prepared, and have long since signed a replacement: Julia Mancuso and Viktoria Rebensburg have already been riding with Stöckli for a while now.

Rebensburg showed special improvement in the speed disciplines since the switch from Nordica to Stöckli. She has also “inherited” her service technician Andrea Vianello from Maze.

That may sound banal for ordinary mortals, but it has immense significance for racers. Just as Formula 1 stars can be heard in their cars and encourage improvements, Rebensburg & co. have a special feel for the snow that, in turn, the technician needs to convert into the right preparation of the skis.

Even in major racing teams, like Head for example, that have several winning candidates in their portfolio at the same time, it can happen that one or two stars don’t feel supported enough and jealously switches over to the in-house competition.

The best example: the spectacular duel between Maria Höfl-Riesch and Lindsey Vonn, which dragged on for several years and didn’t always go that harmoniously. Even today, the women with Vonn, Anna Veith (formerly Fenninger), and Lara Gut have three potential overall World Cup winners, on their way with the skis from Kennelbach in Vorarlberg, Austria.

The biggest surprise before the new season has been Head's signing of Tina Weirather, who left Atomic despite her Super-G world cup title. 

And Tina Maze? She’s sticking with skiing as a coach and scout for Stöckli, as confirmed by Winter Sports Director Walter Reusser – relationships close to those in pro soccer.

An overview of the World Cup stars’ skis:

Slalom

Giant Slalom

Super G

Downhill