After a disappointing season
Biathlon earthquake: coaching duo of the women’s team has to leave
March 22, 2026 – 5:37 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
After a disappointing Olympic season without a medal, the German Ski Association is drawing conclusions. The coaching duo of the women’s team has to go.
The responsible coaches Kristian Mehringer and Sverre Olsbu Røiseland are leaving the German biathletes team after the weak Olympic season. Sports director Felix Bitterling from the German Ski Association confirmed the personal details on the ZDF microphone after the last race of the season at the World Cup in Oslo, Norway. It is not yet known who will fill the two vacant positions with a view to the coming season.
Mehringer has been the women’s coach for the past eight years, Røiseland had the job for four years. Mehringer will now “take on a very important position in our system,” said Bitterling: “We are currently working on defining this position.” Røiseland will return to his Norwegian homeland. “Sverre is an outstanding personality, a great person, a great coach,” emphasized Bitterling: “But at the moment what we need and his private situation don’t fit together.”
The 35-year-old and his wife, three-time Olympic champion Marte Olsbu Røiseland, are expecting their second child in September. After a mentally stressful phase due to his testicular cancer, Røiseland is not thinking about taking a break. He told Norway’s association that he had already “expressed interest” in working there again. “A future collaboration with Sverre in four or eight years is not ruled out,” said Bitterling about a return to Germany.
The German ski hunters had disappointed this winter. At the Winter Olympics there was no medal in either the individual competitions or the relays. Franziska Preuß took third place in the Czech Republic, the only podium place in the World Cup. The 32-year-old has already ended her career after the Olympics and there is no successor in sight.
