Peter Schlickenrieder is no longer the national cross-country skiing coach. As the German Ski Association announced, the 56-year-old 2002 Olympic silver medalist will be replaced by Michael Bonfert.
Schlickenrieder remains sports director, a position he has held together with Wencke Hölig since May 2025.
Schlickenrieder has been the national coach of German cross-country skiers since 2018. He took on the dual role of head coach and sports director last year after Andreas Schlütter moved to the management of DSV performance sport GmbH.
Under Schlickenrieder, Victoria Carl and Katharina Hennig surprisingly won gold in the team sprint at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, as well as silver for the women’s relay. At the last Winter Games in February in northern Italy, Laura Gimmler and Coletta Rydzek won bronze in the team sprint, the only medal for German cross-country skiers.
Schlickenrieder explained: “With Michael Bonfert we are gaining a head coach who is very familiar with our common direction of recent years and will continue to do so with a high level of expertise.”
As part of the restructuring that the DSV announced on Monday, the Norwegian Torstein Dagestad will be the new men’s coach, while Michael Bittner will take over the women’s team. Two-time world champion Axel Teichmann (46), previously the women’s discipline coach, will act as Head of Performance in the future.
