Ligety signs with HEAD Skis

American gate skiing specialist Ted Ligety has become the latest World Cup champion to sign a deal with Austrian ski maker HEAD skis. Ligety, an Olympic gold medalist and two-time GS overall World Cup champion, joins Norwegian greats Aksel Lund Svindal and Kjetil Jansrud and Italian speedster Werner Heel who have all signed with the company in the last few weeks.

HEAD made the announcement today (May 4), that Ligety, ranked seventh overall in this season’s World Cup standings, would be joining what they are calling their “World Cup Rebels Racing Team.”

Prior to signing with HEAD, Ligety was with Rossignol skis. At this time last year, Rossignol announced that it would be cutting its skiers’ pay in half prompting women’s racing power house Lindsey Vonn to make the jump to HEAD. Ligety, who was injured at the time, was unable to test skis and stayed with Rossignol for the remainder of the 2009-2010 season and captured the overall giant slalom globe for the second time in his career. World Cup overall threats Bode Miller and Didier Cuche also race on HEAD skis.
 
“For sure, it’s a very thrilling challenge for me, I’m very happy to be part of the HEAD group of top skiers who have done so well in major events,” said Ligety. “The supplier change is definitely a no-brainer for me as HEAD has proven its potential in producing great skis and efficient boots in all events, both with the ladies’ and the men’s team. I hope to be able to contribute strongly to HEAD’s success in coming years. My main goal is to finally bring my slalom back to the level of my giant slalom.”

Ligety, who is proving to be a savvy business man, owns his own successful optics and helmet company “Shred.”

“Ted has loads of energy and is a great character, he perfectly fits in our group,” says Rainer Salzgeber, Director of the HEAD Race Department. “He will help us to prepare a bright future for HEAD. We think he will be a very appealing role model for the younger generation. Ted’s input should also be crucial in improving our technical skis. He is very motivated too and together we can strive towards some major goals.”

Image of Ligety by Gepa