4 World Cup dynamos become Rebels

After securing the top spot as the most successful brand on the alpine World Cup last season, four racers have joined the HEAD team at an exciting time for the brand which hopes to build on the success of the last few years. Swiss star Sandro Viletta, Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Austrian Bernadette Schild, and Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel will all join the HEAD Rebels Team for the 2016-17 season. 

“I am extremely pleased and am top motivated for the upcoming season to attack with the HEAD team,” said Viletta, who won alpine combined gold at the Sochi Olympics one year after finishing fifth in the Schladming World Championships in the same event. He lives near to St. Moritz, Switzerland, and will be looking use his home-slope knowledge to his advantage at the 2017 World Championships. He is currently recovering from a right knee injury that saw him miss most of the 2015-16 season.

Osborne-Paradis moves to HEAD after just missing the podium in the last regular season downhill in Kvitfjell, Norway, last winter. With three World Cup wins to his name as well as eight other podium placings, Osborne-Paradis has renewed enthusiasm for battling it out at the top of the sport again.

“After a decade of World Cup racing on one ski brand, I’ve decided to see what another brands can offer,” Osborne-Paradise explained. “I’ve decided that this brand will be HEAD. HEAD has an amazing race team on the ski hill and more importantly behind the scenes in their boot and ski factory. I’m very excited with this new relationship and can’t wait to see  the results we can achieve together.”

Mowinckel also joins the HEAD World Cup Rebels for the new season after previously competing for Rossignol.

“I am thrilled to join the world-class HEAD Rebels team, an exclusive group of athletes who produce unparalleled success on the World Cup every year. I have full confidence in this new partnership as HEAD equipment suits not only my style of skiing, but also my free-spirited outlook and desire to push the limits,” noted Mowinckel, who has seven top-10 results to her name.

She will be joined on the team by slalom specialist, Bernadette Schild, who is ranked 16th in slalom on the World Cup. Schild will be looking to improve on the three career podium results as well as her nine top-10 results.

Veteran Rebel Alexis Pinturault of France has renewed his contract with HEAD, signing on for another two years, which he announced on his social media accounts two days ago.

Ragnhild Mowinckel
Birthday: September 12, 1992
Nationality: Norway
Ski-Club: Sp.Kl. Rival
Disciplines: giant slalom, super-G, downhill, alpine combined
Achievements: Seven top-10 World Cup results, sixth place in the alpine combined at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, three-time Junior World Champion

Manuel Osborne-Paradis
Birthday: Feb. 8, 1984
Nationality: Canada
Ski-Club: Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Disciplines: downhill, super-G
Achievements: Three World Cup wins, 11 World Cup podium finishes

Bernadette Schild
Birthday: Jan. 2, 1990
Nationality: Austria
Ski-Club: SK Dienten
Disciplines: slalom, giant Slalom
Achievements: Three World Cup podium finishes, Junior World Slalom Champion 2008

Sandro Viletta
Birthday: Jan. 23, 1986
Nationality: Switzerland
Ski-Club: La Punt Chamues-ch
Disciplines: downhill, super-G, slalom, giant slalom, super combined
Achievements: Olympic gold medalist in alpine combined Sochi 2014, one World Cup win, 12 top-10 finishes on the World Cup

Release courtesy of HEAD