An era ends: Hermann Weinbuch retires after 27 years as national trainer of the combined athletes. At the end of the World Cup he was denied a medal.
At least his golf friends will have been pleased by Hermann Weinbuch’s decision to retire. “They train all winter. I always said to them: I have to have talent,” joked the 62-year-old after the last World Cup race of “his” combined athletes at the World Championships in Planica: “Now I can train a little too .”
Because: Weinbuch stops at the end of the season – and this time it means business. After an unbelievable 27 years as national coach, in which he had repeatedly flirted with his departure, “the time has come for me to step down,” he announced: “It’s unusual to say: It’s over. I can start life a little more relaxed”.
What remains is one of the most successful periods in German winter sports history. Since Weinbuch took over as national coach in 1996, the Nordic Combined athletes have collected an unbelievable 59 medals at major events.
Six Olympic victories and 15 world titles fell into his era. Although he was denied another medal in his last World Championship race, according to Weinbuch: “The joy prevails.”
“Has the combination shaped Germany for decades”
“We had a great World Championships,” said the former world champion, considering the four silver medals he had won in five competitions at the title fights in Slovenia, adding: “The future is taken care of.” This is not least due to Weinbuch’s own merit, it’s not for nothing that his athletes are already lying at his feet.
“We’ve had a lot of successes. He leaves a pretty big gap,” said Eric Frenzel, who, with Weinbuch’s help, won an unprecedented 18 World Championship medals in men’s Nordic winter sports.
And Julian Schmid, three-time silver medalist from Planica, also paid tribute to Weinbuch when he left: “He has shaped the combination in Germany for decades. We will see that we find a worthy replacement for him, but I think it could be very difficult. “
Well-chosen time to quit
In fact, the footsteps could hardly be bigger. “It will not be an easy task to replace such a man,” said the sports director of the German Ski Association, Horst Hüttel: “Now the talks will pick up speed.”
However, the time for a change is well chosen: There is no major event in winter 2023/24, a successor could start in peace.
Weinbuch himself wants to stay with the DSV anyway, but “nothing is fixed yet”, emphasized the long-time success coach. Hüttel also confirmed that he wanted to continue working with Weinbuch until 2026 so that he could pass on his knowledge “to the youngsters, to the coaching school”.
The DSV could not wish for a better man for such a job. And Hermann Weinbuch will certainly come to play golf more often.