The most successful German skier of all time resigns: Eric Frenzel announced the end of his career at the legendary Oslo Holmenkollen. sport.de looks back on a unique career and what shaped and distinguished him.
Just as everything has its time, every time has its heroes. In Nordic Combined, as extraordinary as it is as a sport, it is no different. In the last 15 years, this has been shaped by a man like no other.
This man has won everything there is to win – and has done so multiple times. The list of his awards and honors is correspondingly long. Despite all his success, Eric Frenzel is one thing above all: always remained human.
Whether it’s his three Olympic victories, the five World Cup crystal balls he has won in a row, or his six world championship titles: the 34-year-old always knew who to thank. This was also the case after his 18th World Championships medal recently in Planica, which made him the most successful medal collector at World Championships. Thanks always go to his companions and his family.
“I am extremely grateful to those who have made this career possible for me, from family to my coaches, and I salute all who have taken a benevolent part in my sporting biography, especially each and every supporter and viewer,” wrote he in his resignation. Big words from a champion who has never forgotten where he came from.
The once so introverted athlete passed his Abitur in Oberwiesenthal and became a father for the first time almost at the same time. “You could watch the young parents tire, that brought with it this responsibility,” recalled his long-time companion and manager Stephan Peplies in an interview sport.de and even saw in this extraordinary constellation a success factor for the steep career of his protégé: “That may have made his success even more compelling, because the better the existential basis for this young family was. He worked more seriously than many others, that was a driver for him.”
Eric Frenzel: Successful in sport, down-to-earth as a person
For Frenzel, life as an athlete was never a one-way street, he always gave something back. “He was always ready to pass on his knowledge and to get involved at every hour. You don’t get that often,” said his home trainer Frank Erlbeck in an interview sport.de. He always remained loyal to the Oberwiesenthal base, even though he returned to his home club, SSV Geyer, in August 2018.
“It’s an absolute gift to be able to work with such a person as a coach over many decades,” Erlbeck ennobled and reiterated: “Since 2009 he has always delivered at least one medal at every major event. That’s more than just extraordinary. Eric belongs in the Hall of Fame of German Sports.”
Erlbeck’s protégé never intended to get a lot of attention and be liked by everyone. And yet in 2018 at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang he had won the election as flag bearer at the opening ceremony by fans and active people. “That alone speaks for his standing,” said Erlbeck aptly.
Frenzel’s star had really blossomed a good ten years earlier: on January 20, 2008 in Klingenthal, when he was only eleven at the start of the World Cup, he celebrated his first of 43 World Cup victories, and that at the tender age of 19. To date, no German combined athlete has been so young when it comes to his first World Cup victory – and that should only be the first of many records that Eric Frenzel should set in the next 15 years.
Whoever stays at the top of the world for so long in a sport that consists of two disciplines that can hardly be more different is a rare example of an athlete. This can also be seen from the fact that Frenzel clinched two World Cup victories in a forgotten format called “Penalty Race”. Whatever competition came up, whatever competitors arose, he survived them all.
And even though his great career comes to an end next weekend in Lahti, where he became two-time World Champion, his name will forever be written in big letters in the Nordic Combined history books.
Luis Holuch