US Biathlon Team Hires World Class Coach

Tue, Apr  28, 2009 - By US Biathlon Association

The preparation for the Olympic Season started right after the last season ended. That the US-Biathlon Team would undergo some more changes towards that highlight is not much of a surprise. More surprisingly - yet effective - though are the changes the team will undergo in the trainer team. After his colleague Mikael Löfgren left the team in 2008 it might have been quite hard for the team to deal with changing assistants next to head coach Per Nilsson. Now, for the most important season of these years, routine will come back personified by the former Italian head coach Armin Auchentaller.

"We are very happy to welcome Armin Auchentaller in our team for the upcoming season. He was our preferred candidate for quite some time and we put all effort into hire him before the Olympic season. Armin has a long experience as a coach. He did a great job the last three years with the Italian team in the World Cup and his character fits perfectly into our team", explains High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler.

The 37 year old Auchentaller also looks forward to his new job position: "It is a really great team and such a nice atmosphere, I am anxious to start my new job and to meet that challenge, the new position offers. I have a good feeling about it, because some first meetings in Munich already showed how well I get along with Per and Bernd and I hope to support those guys and the team with my experience as a coach."

As Auchentaller said, Nilsson, Eisenbichler and himself have met in Munich during the last days to finalize the schedule and plannings for next season. After those meetings the team is now ready to resume work. Auchentaller will first join the team during the first training camp in Vancouver, taking place from May 4th to May 10th.

See also: Get to Know The New Coach In The US Team

A - Team USA Biathlon for 2009-2010
Coaches: Per Nilsson und Armin Auchentaller
A 1 Tim Burke, Jay Hakkinen
A 2 Lowell Bailey, Jeremy Teela
A 3 Russel Currier, Wynn Roberts, Haley Johnson