Teams reorganise their coaching staffs
Aug 31, 2018·Alpine Skiing
Spring the time when teams take the opportunity to reorganise their coaching staffs. Some nations have already announced changes and hired new coaches for the upcoming Olympic season. Here is an update of some of the new faces with the various teams.
Right after the World Cup Finals in Aspen, the Swiss Ski Team gave notice to their speed coach Sepp Brunner. The Austrian has been active within the Swiss Federation for the last 20 years and was the coach of World Champion Beat Feuz. 58 year-old Brunner will be replaced by Andy Evers, 49 year-old Austrian and former coach of Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather.
The Austrian Ski Team announced a restructuration of its training groups and will now offer a more individual training possibilities to its athletes. In that perspective, the OESV also hired Sepp Brunner as the new speed head coach on the men's side, replacing Florian Winkler.
In Liechtenstein, KarlHeinz Pichler took over Andy Evers position as the head coach on the ladies side. The 47 year-old Austrian is leaving the young and talented Austrian speed team with World Champion Nicole Schmidhofer.
Claude Crétier, the French coach of among others Alexis Pinturault and Victor Muffat-Jeandet, decided to retire from World Cup coaching. There has been no information about his replacement yet.
The German Ski Team also announced a change, with Jürgen Graller joining the coaching staff as the head coach of the ladies. The 46 year-old coach from Schladming is replacing Markus Anwander, who has been responsible for the group in the past three years.
Another significant change happened in the U.S. line-up. Veteran coaches John McBride and Chip White will take over as the new speed coaches, McBride on the men’s and White on the ladies’ side. Both have earned several World Cup wins, Overall titles, World Championships and Olympic medals. Alex Hoedlmoser, former men’s speed coach, will return to the ladies’ side to provide strong support to Lindsey Vonn.
Alberto Senigagliesi left the U.S. speed ladies after two years to endorse the role of French speed head coach for the ladies. The 46-year-old coach from Italy is replacing Pierre-Yves Albrieux.
In Croatia, after the (yet not so officiel) retirement of both his children Janica and Ivica Kostelic, the 78-year-old Ante Kostelic decided to coach the young Croatian brothers Elias and Samuel Kolega.
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