Ricco Groß becomes head coach of the Slovenian biathletes. The four-time Olympic champion and nine-time world champion had previously coached the Austrian men’s team since 2018, but his contract was not renewed after the Olympic cycle.
The 51-year-old from Ruhpolding has signed a four-year contract with the Slovenians until the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
“I would like to thank everyone for the trust and the opportunity for this task. We have a lot to do. Now we just want to move forward,” Groß was quoted as saying in a statement from the association. The German Ski Association recently announced that Slovenian Uros Velepec will be Mark Kirchner’s assistant coach for the German men.
In Slovenia, Groß is supported by Janez Maric for men and Bostjan Klavar for women. The Slovenian world-class cross-country skier Anamarija Lampic recently announced her move to the ski hunter camp.
“I had several inquiries,” Groß told the “Traunsteiner Tagblatt”. At the same time he emphasized that he would have liked to have continued in Austria.
Recently, there have only been cursory talks with the German Association, said Groß, who ended his successful sports career in 2007.
After training as a coach, he became a women’s coach at DSV before leaving the association in 2015. He was the head coach of the Russian biathletes until 2018, when he moved to Austria.