Changes Announced To World Cup Coaching Teams
The Olympic cycle often marks the end of coach's contracts, which results in lots of changes in the staff supporting the national teams. With important meetings coming up in each federation, the so called “ski mercato” has been pretty quiet at this point, but here are some of the major changes announced so far:
Hans Flatscher is leaving his position as the head coach of the Swiss ladies’ team. The announcement has been made during the World Cup Finals in Åre, with the 49 years old Austrian coach expressing his wish to spend more time with his family, including his wife former World Cup skier Sonja Nef. Since 2012, when Flatscher took over his position, the Swiss team has been very successful, with among others Lara Gut’s Overall World Cup win, Wendy Holdener’s World Champion title and Michelle Gisin’s Olympic gold medal. The Swiss ladies also moved up in the Nations’ ranking and finished 2018 only few points from the leader Austria. Hans Flatscher will remain within the federation and work as the head of the alpine development department.
The Swiss federation has already announced who Hans Flatscher’s successor will be: It’s Beat Tschuor, who held the position as chief of the development department so far. He also worked as a ski coach and team leader in the past for Liechtenstein but also for different Swiss Europa Cup and World Cup teams. The 49 years old from the Grisons exchanges his position with Hans Flatscher and is looking forward to the challenge of taking over such a successful team.
In the US Ski and Snowboard associations, two key people in the management staff will retire from their current positions. It’s men’s head coach Sascha Rearick and Alpine Director Patrick Riml. After 10 years on the World Cup Tour, Rearick decided to move to the development team, that he is going to lead. “I am very excited about bringing my 16 years of World Cup and Europa Cup experience, my knowledge and my enthusiasm to this new role,” he said. At the same time, Patrick Riml, who served two terms (6 years) as the alpine director of the U.S. Ski Team, decided to leave. “I am proud of the contribution I have made to the U.S. Ski Team, but I also recognized the need for continued evolution of the sport in America to ensure that same success for the future,” said Riml, who had no immediate plans. No information about their replacement has been given so far.
Another change is likely to happen in Italy. Max Carca, currently head coach of the Italian men’s team, announced that he would like to quit this position and would like to take over a team. No official announcements have been made so far, but the “Race Ski Magazine” is mentioning Christian Thoma, the coach of the Swedish ladies’ tech team, as a potential successor in Max Carca’s position of technical director.
