Downhill world champion moves to Kästle

Kästle's glorious history was recently interrupted by a long downturn. Founded by Anton Kästle in 1924 in Hohenems/Vorarlberg, Kästle is considered one of the oldest still existing ski brands in the world.

A few decades ago, Kästle skis were considered the ultimate in alpine racing; the traditional brand was able to win a total of 132 world championship and Olympic medals. At the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina, Kästle won the title as the most successful ski brand and won a whopping 20 medals. The most successful Kästle driver was none other than the “Blitz von Kitz” Toni Sailer with three gold medals. Legends of skiing such as Pirmin Zurbriggen and Kjetil-Andre Aamodt followed in Sailer's footsteps with Kästle skis.

Toni Sailer was the figurehead of Kästle. © R. Frischauf in: “Tiroler Jungbürgerbuch” vW Pfaundler 1992

The Ultner star coach Franz Gamper was the sports director at Kästle at the time. After the death of founder Anton Kästle, the brand was sold to the Italian fashion house Benetton in 1991, and from then on the company went steeply downhill. In 1998, the people of Vorarlberg disappeared from the ski world for nine years. Kästle gave rise to the ski part of the Nordica brand, which until then only manufactured ski boots and was also part of the Benetton company. Rebirth of Kästle From 2007 onwards, Kästle primarily produced freeride and touring skis, with which it achieved its first international successes in skiing. The Austrian Lorraine Huber became freeride world champion on Kästle skis in 2017. A year later, the company was sold to the Czech Republic, and the new stakeholder has since been ConsilSports. In 2019, Kästle took the first step back onto the big ski stage. Austria's best technology specialist Katharina Liensberger wanted to switch from Rossignol to Kästle, but was abruptly thwarted by the national association ÖSV.

Kästle's goal of winning a medal at the 2022 Olympics could not be achieved. Now the ski brand has signed its first superstar together with Lange shoes and Marker bindings: The two-time downhill world champion Ilka Stuhec from Slovenia is now on the Vorarlberg skis and wants to lead the traditional brand back to its former strength.

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Downhill world champion moves to Kästle

The traditional Austrian ski company Kästle has landed the first big fish after its return to alpine ski racing and signed former downhill World Cup winner Ilka Stuhec.

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