Successor is already ready: Biathlon national coach Velepec unexpectedly resigns
(Photo: IMAGO/Funke Photo Services)
After another weak World Championship for the German men, Uros Velepec is ending his work as national biathlon coach - despite a total of five medals for the German team. An old acquaintance is now taking over the biathlon coach's position.
Slovenian Uros Velepec is unexpectedly resigning as head coach of biathlon with immediate effect. The 58-year-old has asked to be relieved of his duties, the German Ski Association announced just two days after the end of the World Championships. Velepec's successor will be 39-year-old Tobias Reiter, who was most recently responsible for the German men in the second-class IBU Cup. Between 2014 and 2018 he worked as a discipline coach for the women.
Velepec took over the position of head coach from Thuringian Mark Kirchner in 2023. According to the statement, he and the DSV sports management agreed to "use the remaining three World Cup weeks to make the first necessary decisions with a view to the upcoming Olympic season."
Velepec: "Not a spontaneous decision""This is not a spontaneous decision and only has a limited connection to our performance at the World Championships," explained Velepec. "Even though we all had obviously set ourselves higher goals in Lenzerheide. Overall, we are currently simply not at the level that we had set ourselves as a goal."
The German biathlon team won five medals at the World Championships in Switzerland. But the men's team in particular fell short of expectations without an individual medal - even in the World Cup season so far.
"With enough time, we would certainly be able to get out of this difficult situation we are currently in together," Velepec continued. "But as head coach, I also see myself as responsible in the short and medium term. That is why I have come to the conclusion that a new impulse is now needed, perhaps also a new form of address, in order to be successful with a view to the 2026 Olympic Games. The sooner the better."
Source: ntv.de, dbe/dpa
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