Peter Schlickenrieder is giving up his position as cross-country skiing head coach in the German Ski Association after eight years, but remains sports director.
The 56-year-old had held both functions in parallel since May 2025. Schlickenrieder shares the position of sports director with Wencke Hölig. As the DSV announced on Monday (April 27, 2026), Michael Bonfert will be the new head coach.
The new men’s coach is Torstein Dagestad, while Michael Bittner is responsible for the women. “I’m particularly pleased that Torstein, a young, highly motivated Norwegian, is joining us, who most recently looked after the Swix Hofseth team and is tackling the new challenge at DSV with a lot of energy.”Schlickenrieder was quoted in the statement.
New function for Axel Teichmann
The 38-year-old Bonfert was previously responsible for the men together with Marc Steur. Among the women, Bittner follows Per Nilsson and Axel Teichmann, who will work as the so-called Head of Performance in the future. Teichmann should develop a common training methodology with other trainers across all ages.
At the last Olympic Winter Games in Italy, Laura Gimmler and Coletta Rydzek won bronze for the German cross-country skiing team in the team sprint.
