Eric Frenzel still has his sights firmly set on the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica as the highlight of the season. In his column for sport.de, the superstar of Nordic combined comments emotionally on the forthcoming change to the position of national coach.
On the occasion of the upcoming World Cup in Planica, Slovenia, the national coach gave an interview in which he explained that this will probably be his last World Cup in office.
At home in Flossenbürg, I’m packing my things for the World Cup using a packing list that Laura and I developed for major events. Hermann Weinbuch – not a national coach, unthinkable for me, as he brought me to the World Cup when I was 18 and has accompanied me throughout my successes since then, with all five overall World Cup victories, all three Olympic victories, all 17 World Championships Medals – madness!
As I adjust the skis, I feel a deep gratitude towards him. On the one hand, he always had the basic idea of promoting young athletes, as happened to me in particular – he had the courage to do it and we athletes thanked him with good results.
Hermann Weinbuch stands for the highly successful phase of German combined and for a special symbiosis between a trainer and his athletes.
Nordic Combined: Much praise for Hermann Weinbuch
In contrast to other national coaches in other sports, he himself has always set many direct impulses for the training work. Whether it was direct competition preparation or general organization, Hermann’s calculations actually always worked out.
Our national coach was always ready to bring new ideas into the processes, such as the great decision for the “German model”, according to which people traveled to the World Cups again and again.
There was never cabin fever beyond the family due to weeks of absence in the German team; Above all, I was grateful for this solution, which meant that I was never separated from my three children and Laura for very long and that I was able to regenerate better at home than anywhere else in the world.
Hermann Weinbuch, I can only bow to our great time and say “Thank you very much”.
“German superiority” in Nordic combined over, but …
But first we will do everything in Team Germany to win medals and titles, for ourselves and for our national coach.
It has gotten a little harder over the years, the other nations have in some cases successfully defended themselves against the German superiority.
But Team D was always good when you had to be good on the spot: at the Olympic Games and World Championships, regardless of whether you were previously convincing in the World Cup or had problems.
The preparatory course in Oberstdorf was good for me and for us. Tomorrow we will arrive, move into quarters on Austrian soil in Arnoldstein – in the middle of the border triangle with Italy and Slovenia. We have four competitions ahead of us. We will do our best – for Germany!
Best regards
Eric Frenzel