Kristoffersen 22nd on Head: how the 2026-27 brand switchers fared in Sölden

Henrik Kristoffersen in the Olympic giant slalom in Bormio, 14 February 2026, in his last season on Van Deer skis. Photo: Dispe via Wikimedia Commons, CC0, cropped

Ten World Cup skiers changed ski brands between April and July 2026, four of them to Head. The giant slaloms in Sölden on 24 and 25 October 2026 were their first races on the new skis. Paula Moltzan won on Van Deer, Lara Colturi was second on Head, and Henrik Kristoffersen finished 22nd in his first race on Head. Here is the scoreboard of the switchers, and what the same brands sell to the rest of us.

• Head signed Kristoffersen, Christof Innerhofer, Alice Robinson and Lara Colturi between 1 May and 1 July; Nordica took Filip Zubčić and Žan Kranjec; Atomic, Kästle and Rossignol took one skier each.
• Women's giant slalom, 24 October: Moltzan 1st (Van Deer), Colturi 2nd (Head, +0.01 s), Robinson 8th (Head, +1.01 s), Gritsch 9th (Atomic, +1.12 s).
• Men's giant slalom, 25 October: Kranjec 18th and Zubčić 19th (Nordica), Kristoffersen 22nd (Head, +1.84 s). No Head skier finished in the men's top ten.
• The shop versions of the race skis: Head Worldcup Rebels e-Race, Van Deer GS Pro, Nordica Dobermann Multigara, Atomic Redster G9 and Kästle RX12 GS.

Announcement dates as reported by skinews.ch, laola1, Ski Racing Media, SnowBrains and Neveitalia; results and brands per the FIS result lists of 24 October and 25 October 2026.

Kristoffersen's move was the biggest. Van Deer, Marcel Hirscher's brand, announced the end of the partnership at the end of March 2026, dpa reported. The Norwegian had raced on Van Deer since the brand's first season in 2022/23. In those four years he took 25 World Cup podiums and 6 of his 34 wins, plus the slalom world title in 2023 and the slalom globe in 2025, the report says. "I am very proud to be in the Head Worldcup Rebels team now," Kristoffersen said in the dpa text, in our translation. Head confirmed the signing on 1 May 2026, laola1 wrote.

Innerhofer followed on 19 May. The 41-year-old had skied Rossignol since the age of six and raced 354 World Cups on the brand, with 6 wins, Neveitalia counted; his Head contract runs two seasons. "I had many good years with Rossignol. But I still wanted a new challenge and new motivation," he told Ski Racing Media.

Robinson ended four years with Salomon and signed with Head on 12 June, after weeks of speculation about a move to Van Deer, SnowBrains wrote. Colturi, 19, left Blizzard-Tecnica after 7 World Cup podiums on the brand; Head confirmed her on 1 July, and her serviceman Andrea Vianello moved with her. Head was the most successful brand by World Cup points in 2025/26, according to the same SnowBrains report.

Moltzan went the other way. After more than a decade on Rossignol she joined Van Deer on 6 May 2026 as the brand's first woman, with her husband Ryan Mooney staying on as her serviceman, per the Van Deer press release Ski Racing Media published. Her Sölden win on 24 October was her first race on the skis; our report of 25 October has the full result.

Zubčić ended 22 years with Atomic, the brand of all his 3 World Cup wins and 13 podiums, and moved to Nordica on 14 May 2026, net.hr reported. "I spent practically my whole career at Atomic and I was curious to discover a new ski brand," he told TopSkiNews in July, in our translation from French; Kranjec and Albert Popov joined Nordica too, he said. Gritsch moved from Head to Blizzard in 2024/25 and on to Atomic for 2026/27, laola1 reported on 16 April: "I am super excited to officially be part of the Atomic team," she wrote on Instagram, in our translation. Murisier left Head for Kästle on 19 May, and Steinmair swapped Fischer for Rossignol on 26 July, according to skinews.ch.

Per the FIS result lists. Kristoffersen started with bib 7 and clocked 53.14 s and 53.42 s on the shortened Rettenbach course; the best Head man was Anton Grammel in 15th. In the women's race Head had 5 of the top 10 and 22 of the 67 starters, as many as Rossignol; Atomic had 11 starters and 3 in the top 10. Among the 69 men, Atomic and Rossignol listed 11 starters each, Head 10, Van Deer 8. One giant slalom per skier is a small sample; the slaloms in Levi and Gurgl in November will say more.

Race skis follow the FIS rules we described in our article on the World Cup weight limit; the shop models keep the narrow waist and shorten the radius. According to the makers' figures, the Head Worldcup Rebels e-Race has a 68 mm waist and a radius of 12.9 m at 160 cm to 16.8 m at 180 cm. The Van Deer GS Pro keeps 68 mm with 21 to 28 m at 181 to 189 cm, closer to a real giant slalom ski, while the Van Deer Pro runs 13 to 22 m at 168 to 189 cm. The Nordica Dobermann Multigara DC DEPT sits at 68 mm and 16 to 19.5 m at 169 to 187 cm, the Atomic Redster G9 at 67 mm and 15 to 18 m at 166 to 181 cm, and the Kästle RX12 GS at 68 mm and 17.2 m at 178 cm. For a shortlist by edge grip and turn shape, the Pick-a-ski tool compares the whole catalog.

• FIS official result lists, women's giant slalom Sölden (24 October 2026) and men's giant slalom Sölden (25 October 2026), with the ski brand per athlete
• laola1, 1 May and 16 April 2026; dpa via Wetterauer Zeitung, 28 May 2026
• skinews.ch, 16 April, 14 May, 19 May (two pieces) and 26 July 2026
• Ski Racing Media, 6 May, 20 May, 12 June and 1 July 2026; SnowBrains, 14 June and 2 July 2026
• Neveitalia (Innerhofer, Steinmair, Colturi, May to July 2026); net.hr, 14 May 2026; TopSkiNews, 31 July 2026
• Pick-A-Ski catalog, makers' figures for the models named above