Biathlon

Castling at the ÖSV – duo turn their backs on the association

Reinhard Gösweiner, Vegard Bitnes and Markus Fischer (from left).(Bild: Gepa Pictures)

Officially, the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) is still keeping a low profile. Behind the scenes, however, the biathletes' coaching staff for the coming season has long been busy being tinkered with. There have been some surprising decisions, as "Krone" editor Christoph Nister reports in his column "Nachlader".

When Mario Stecher was promoted to the new sports director for all divisions at the ÖSV two months ago, he identified the biathletes as one of the biggest construction sites. And rightly so - especially when looking at the men. There was not a single top 10 place in an individual discipline last winter - disastrous for a country that calls itself a winter sports nation.

This makes it all the more surprising that men's head coach Vegard Bitnes is to go into a third season, as the "Krone" has learned. Ludwig Gredler will remain co-coach. Several ÖSV employees would like to see the Tyrolean on the front line, but he has so far resisted all advances. For two athletes, however, further collaboration with Bitnes is out of the question.

Felix Leitner and Dominic Unterweger have lost hope of improvement and are trying their luck on their own - with trusted coach Florian Steirer. Simon Eder's future is still unclear; the 41-year-old will decide in the coming days whether he will continue.

Austria's women performed significantly better than the men last winter - but there will still be a change at the top. Reinhard Gösweiner, who was responsible for the highly successful training group 2 with Anna Andexer, Lea Rothschopf and Kristina Oberthaler, is to lead the "TG 1" around Anna Gandler in the future.

As the team is growing, he will be supported by two colleagues, Hannes Kuppelwieser, who has already worked under him, and Alex Jakob (most recently IBU Cup coach for the men). It is unclear whether Lisa Hauser will join the group. The Tyrolean, who last year largely joined the successful Swiss team led by Salzburg head coach Sandra Flunger, was on vacation in Norway last week and a meeting with her is expected to take place in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the ÖSV is planning to appoint Markus Fischer, who most recently coached the women's World Cup team, as head of an expanded IBU Cup squad in which the men and women will train together. Fritz Pinter is planned as "co". However, it remains to be seen whether Fischer, who would have liked to continue in the top flight, will take up the job.