Tuesday Talk with Constantin Kreiselmeyer

Since April 2024, Constantin “Conny” Kreiselmeyer has been strengthening the German coaching team around Eric Frenzel and Kai Bracht. In this Tuesday Talk, the 37-year-old from Oberstdorf talks about Germany's unique coaching constellation, untapped potential and why World Championships no longer make him nervous.

You have been part of the men's national team as a coach since April. What exactly is the distribution of tasks between you, Eric Frenzel and Kai Bracht?

We had the first planning sessions with each other immediately after the season to clarify what our main tasks were and what we wanted to work on. The distribution is that we have the topics of strength training, suits, endurance training and jumping distributed over several people. This means that Eric is no longer responsible for everything as the head coach, but rather the team as a whole, which implements things together. We have extremely positive communication within the team, especially among the coaching and support team, in order to follow a common route.

How did the first few weeks in your new position go? Have you already started your summer preparations?

There have already been a few meetings between Eric, Kai and me to create a level of trust at the beginning. We have Eric, who after his first year as the new, young head coach now sees things differently than he did at the beginning, and Kai, who has a lot of experience and has been able to accompany the team to many World Championships and Olympic Winter Games. With me joins a young, motivated coach who has been working in the B-Team for the last six years, but has also experienced major events as a coach with the Olympic Games in Sochi and Pyeongchang as well as the World Championships in Falun and Lahti.
We have now compared all of our experiences and ideas regarding annual coaching plans to be able to show the athletes a clear path for the next season.
Open, honest communication, which focuses on collaboration, is particularly important so that they know that they can always turn to someone if anything is unclear. 

What part of your new job are you most looking forward to?

What I'm most looking forward to now is being able to return to working with the people I was able to support for many years, especially at the Oberstdorf base.

The circle closes as I now meet again athletes that I was already able to look after in the B squad and Continental Cup. For some people, a fingerprint from my work in the past will certainly still be visible and it is very special to now be able to move forward together on this basis.

I also find the innovations within the team exciting and the extent to which the athletes work professionally, how they approach tasks, but of course also what opportunities I have for learning and further development.

You have been responsible for the youth team so far and last season was very successful, with Tristan Sommerfeldt's team winning gold and silver at the JWM. What experiences do you take with you into the men’s team? Are there any athletes you have already worked with?

I've trained Tristan Sommerfeldt in the B-team in the past and worked with Richard Stenzel in COCs and in the national group, so there's a very familiar atmosphere between us.

Due to my very trusting work in the B and C squads in the past, I would like to highlight one name in particular who is partly responsible for these World Championship medals: Frank Erlbeck. A big thank you goes to him at this point because he put the young athletes on the right path and I don't want to take credit for the successes because it is also his achievement.

 What strengths characterize the German team?

Basically, the strength of the team is that there are many great, well-deserved athletes on the team who have achieved so much in their careers and have been among the world's best at the highest level for many years.

In particular, the skiing part is where we are doing incredibly well, also on paper in the Best Skier Trophy. The difficulties in the Ski Jumping became very clear compared to the performances especially from Norway and Austria, whose strengths we used to have in the past and will now do everything for gaining it back.

On the other hand, is there potential that you think has not yet been fully exploited?

I see great potential in preparing for individual training sessions to determine what exactly needs to be worked on. In particular, it's about creating awareness of what exactly needs to be done so that no one comes to training and just goes through it, but rather completes all tasks with full concentration. No matter whether on the course, in strength training or on the hill. The quality of collaboration with athletes certainly still has potential in this area.

Starting a FIS Nordic World Ski Championship season straight away as a coach can be difficult. Does the pressure motivate you or do you see specific medal expectations more as a challenge?

I don't see it as pressure because I'm allowed to act in my familiar environment. Eric is the head coach and the boss of the team and it is absolutely no problem for me to subordinate myself there, after being head coach in Germany for six years and in Switzerland for three years.

So, for me it's more anticipation than pressure, especially given the team's great successes in the past. With Eric as a world-class athlete and Kai's experience, I am not afraid but rather happy to be able to support directly at the World Championships and Olympics 2026 to provide input and motivate the boys to win medals. 

What will your team's training look like in the next few months until the Summer Grand Prix?

Until the Summer Grand Prix we will primarily work on the basics to create a good foundation. The athletes have a lot of tasks with many travel days, including one finally back to Japan. We will hold a few training camps and choose the locations carefully so that we can concentrate on the topics we have planned in peace. With good planning and concrete goals, we hope to be able to create good dynamics within the team so that we can be fully competitive again when the competitions start.