It’s that time of the year again. The season is freshly concluded and coaching carousel begins. The end of an Olympic season is, for obvious reasons, results in the most crowded carousel every four years. Some coaches are looking for new challenges. Some teams are looking to turn the page. This season we have each of the five biggest nations making changes of varying degrees. Let’s take a look at the coaching changes we’re seeing this season:
🇫🇷 France – After announcing last August that he would be leaving the Norwegian team at the conclusion of the 2025-20260 season, speculation about Ziggy Mazet’s return to the French team was much speculated. It became the worst kept secret in biathlon as Stephane Bouthiaux basically gave away the game in February.
At the end of the season Mazet made it official that he will in fact be returning to the French team as the “shooting coach.” This title always makes me chuckle. It makes it seem as if Mazet will strictly be focusing on the shooting. But logically we know that Mazet is going to play a more thorough role in the coaching of each of these athletes. Of course he’ll focus on being the man behind the scope. But you can bet he’ll have some input on the overall preparations.
It doesn’t take any great insight to know that this is a grand slam hire. Every team would love to have Ziggy Mazet in the fold. He’s done nothing but coach champions. No doubt about it he’s going to make a positive impact on the careers of the men under him. And if history is any guide, just as he did with the Norwegian women, he’s going to play a big role with the women as well, even if it’s not “official.”
*Should note that as of this writing (4/15/2026) there has been no specific information regarding Cyril Burdet whether he is staying with France or leaving. However, approximately 1 month after the season’s conclusion it does appear that every intention is for him to return with the team. But it is not official as of yet.
New French Coaching Staff:
Director: Stephane Bouthiaux
Men’s A Team: Simon Fourcade
Women’s A Team: Cyril Burdet*
Shooting Coach: Siegfried “Ziggy” Mazet
🇳🇴 Norway – With the departure of Ziggy Mazet and his oversized (in a good way) influence on the Norwegian team, the federation decided it was time to make wholesale changes. Basically the entire coaching/administration experienced turn over.
This starts with Lars Maeland who will take over the director position from recently retired Per Arne Botnan who had been in the director’s chair for the last 16 seasons. Obviously that’s a lot to replace but the team will turn to Lars Maeland. Maeland served the last year as a development consulstant for the Olympiattopen Oestlandet working to develop the Olympic level athletes and coaches for eastern Norway. Prior to that he worked as director for multiple private teams after an earlier stint as physical trainer for the Alpine skiing team. He will be assisted by Anders Brun Hennum.
For the men’s coaching staff the administration turns to a couple of familiar faces: Patrick Oberegger and Anders Oeverby. Both are well known to biathlon fans. Patrick Oberegger has been the women’s head coach for the last two Olympic cycles. Along the way he led the team to four Nations Cup titles as well as leading Tiril Eckhoff to the Overall Globe in the 2020-2021 season and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland in 2021-2022. That same season Roeiseland also set the record for most medals won by a woman in a single Olympics.
Anders Oeverby, meanwhile, rises to the World Cup level after many successful seasons leading the men’s IBU Cup team. Oeverby is well known for his many innovative coaching techniques. He’s overseen significant dominance by the Norwegian IBU Cup men, many of whom are now running on the World Cup. You know their names.
The way I look at this coaching marriage is one of linking the older athletes and the younger athletes. The older athletes are likely more familiar with Oberegger. As he and Mazet worked closely together the last few seasons, Oberegger likely knows how they operate. And for the men like Laegreid, Christiansen, and Dale-Skjevdal, there really isn’t a lot to change. Just try to keep it consistent. The younger group, including Johan-Olav Both, Martin Uldal, Isak Frey, etc as grown up with Anders Oeverby. He clearly knows how to get the most out of them and should continue to be able to do that. Oeverby also is always thinking ahead. While I’m not overwhelmed by the Oberegger hire, I completely understand it.
On the men’s side, the Norwegian team will be proceeding with Sverre Oslbu Roeiseland and Marthe Kristoffersen. Sverre Roeiseland clearly has experience at the highest level of the sport. Of course he’s helped to coach and guide his wife Marte Roeiseland who had an exceptionally successful career including the 2022 Overall Globe and five medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Immediately after that he moved to the German national team where he helped Franziska Preuss reach her absolute apex. First in the injury and illness shortened 2023-2024 season and then when she took home the 2024-2025 Overall Globe. Importantly, not only has Roeiseland had success, but he’s done it under the high scrutiny of managing the German team. The German fans and press put immense pressure on Roeiseland. And lastly, it meets his dream of being able to be home closer to family. There is nowhere closer he can get home than where he and his family currently live.
He will be joined by Marthe Kristoffersen. Kristoffersen has a length history as a skiing coach. She actually has never coached biathlon before as she has only been an cross country skiing coach including with the Norwegian national team as well as Team Eksjohus. While there is definitely a difference between the technique of cross country skiing and biathlon skiing, they have to have faith that she can make the transition and get the most out of these talented women.
It is worth noting that this means that highly talented and respected skiing coach Egil Kristiansen is open for a job. He is 60 years old but appears to be interested in a new coaching position. If he does ultimately join a new team this season he should instantly make an impact on their skiing.
New Norwegian Staff:
Director: Lars Maeland
Assistant Director: Anders Brun Hennum – responsible for recruit and u23 teams
Men’s A Team: Patrick Oberegger & Anders Oeverby
Women’s A Team: Sverre Olsbu Roeiseland & Marthe Kristoffersen
🇩🇪 Germany – At the end of the season Sverre Roeiseland announced that he would be departing in order to have the opportunity to spend more time with his family. At the time it wasn’t known that his opportunity would be to coach in Norway. However, fortunately for him, as outlined above, that opportunity opened up for him.
The German women’s position instantly became one of the most coveted position. There is absolutely high pressure for success. But there is also a higher level of young talent than you will find in almost any other federation except for France. Just look at the names that are available to help coach over the next few years: Selina Grotian, Julia Tannheimer, Vanessa Voigt, Marlene Fichtner, etc. Then there is the bunch of talent that is still waiting to be unleashed like Julia Kink, Alma Siegismund, and Sophie Patz. And we’re not even talking talents who are still years away like Melina Gaupp and Sydney Wuesterling.
This was an absolutely crucial hire. They need a coach who is not just proficient at coaching biathlon, but one who is able to manage these young athletes through the high pressure that they are going to face from media and fans. A good coach would be able to build their biathlon. A great coach will help them reach their highest levels of success by building their mental strength.
The German team absolutely knocked it out of the part with this hire. Absolutely no doubt about it, Sandra Flunger was perfect for this team in every conceivable manner. She is well known as a great head coach. She has taken the Swiss team to the highest levels they have ever reached. This included several seasons of the highest Nations Cup finishes by both the Swiss men and women. She took Lena Haecki-Gross to her absolute apex in the 2023-2024 season as she finished 6th in the Overall. Flunger has brought along Amy Baserga to a high level contender and she oversaw thge breakthrough of Lea Meier last season. She also has helped to personally guide her friend and Austrian athlete Lisa Hauser to amazing successes including 3rd Overall in the 2021-2022 season, the Individual discipline globe in the 2020-2021 season, six wins, and two World Championship medals including the 2021 Mass Start gold medal.
Sandra Flunger is clearly a great biathlon coach. What she does better than nearly everybody, though, is managing her team’s mental state. We have had the opportunity to speak with many of the Swiss athletes the last few seasons and they all talk about how good Flunger is at the social/emotional aspects of coaching. She brings a new atmosphere to the team. With the pressure that Vanessa Voigt and Selina Grotian amongst others have spoken of, this is clearly Sandra Flunger’s greatest asset to her new program.
Flunger will be assisted by Denny Andritzke who has been part of he training staff with the DSV for the last six seasons. He has been in charge of the Oberhof training center so he has helped to train some of the World Cup and IBU Cup athletes at various times over the last few seasons as well.
The one major loss in this instance will be the departure of Andreas Birnbacher. He has stated that he will still have a role with DSV but it is not immediately clear what that will be.
German DSV Staff:
Director: Bernd Eisenbichler
Men’s A Team: Tobias Reiter & Jens Filbrich
Women’s A Team: Sandra Flunger & Denny Andritzke
🇸🇮 Slovenia – Armin Auchentaller and Rok Trsan
After a successful tenure as coach of the US Biathlon squad (at least on the course…we’re going to leave off the course alone for the moment), Coach Armin Auchentaller decided it was time for a new challenge. For the last several years Auchentaller has actually been doing most of his coaching while still living in Italy and even still has been able to have great success in bringing along athletes like Deedra Irwin, Margie Freed, Lucie Anderson, Chloe Levins, Maxime Germain, and of course Campbell Wright. And that’s just these last few years.
But now Auchentaller is looking for a challenge closer to home. The Italian native is going to be the new head coach of the intriguing Slovenian squad. Obviously the greatest challenge of his new position will be trying to bring about the best of Anamarija Lampic.
Auchentaller really might be the perfect man for this particular challenge. With the US program he has been exceptionally successful at recruiting cross country skiers and converting them to biathletes. The current women’s World Cup squad is almost exclusively made up of converts. And, with all respect to them, none of them have the ski power of Lampic. Auchentaller has the experience in teaching the conversion and helping to teach the shooting. If, and it’s a big if, Auchentaller is successful, Lampic could immediately be a top 10-15 biathlete if not higher.
But that’s not all he has to work with. This past season Lena Repinc showed continued improvement. Still just 23 years old she finished 41st in the Overall with 10 top 40’s and four top 20’s while showing improvement in both skiing and shooting. On the men’s side Lovro Planko, interestingly enough a good friend of Wright and Germain, finished 57th Overall last year while showing easily the best skiing of his career. Plus Polona Klemencic, Anton Vidmar, along with youngsters like Manca Caserman, Ela Sever, and Ruj Groselj Simic.
Auchentaller’s time with the US squad was not entirely a success. As has been well documented in the AP News story and in a new documentary by Cameron Kirkegaard Line of Fire there has clearly been a pattern of sexual abuse that was tolerated by the US Biathlon program for a number of years. It did not just affect Joanne Reid, she was just the most vocal about it. But other women, including her good friend Deedra Irwin, have mentioned it as well. All of it is absolutely grotesque and unacceptable. It is of course not obvious that Armin Auchentaller knew that this was occurring at that moment. However, even if he didn’t know, he should have known. Furthermore, once it was known, the response was slow and at best half measured. Whether this can all be laid at Coach Auchentaller’s feet is a fair discussion. But at least he could have been more forceful about it.
Joining the Slovenian coaching staff will be Rok Trsan. Trsan, of course, raced for the Slovenian program through the 2023 season. He is still just 33 years old so just beginning his coaching career. In addition to learning from Auchentaller, his primary contribution will be the connections he already has within Slovenia. He also clearly already knows the team both from his time competing alongside them as well as just being in and around the program for so long. Very interested to see how his career develops.
🇸🇪 Sweden – Jonne Kähkönen
Jonne Kähkönen has finally been announced as the new shooting coach on the Swedish national team. This connection was long rumored and those rumors picked up intensity in a major way during the Oslo-Holmenkollen competitions. That week saw Jean-Marc Chabloz, the long time man behind the scope for the Swedes, announced that he would be retiring, while at the same time Jonne Kähkönen announced that he would not be back with the Italian women’s team. It was a match made in heaven that just took about a month to finalize.
Jonne Kähkönen has most recently been at the helm of the Italian women’s program as they aimed for a peak performance this year centered around the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. After joining the program in 2022, Kähkönen has overseen the recovery of Lisa Vittozzi from the depths of her shooting troubles, the successful prolonging of Dorothea Wierer’s career, and the development of several youngsters who seem poised to take the next steps in their careers.
Clearly the peak of his career came in the 2023-2024 season as he was able to help guide Lisa Vittozzi back to not just peak form, but to the absolute apex of the sport as she lifted the Crystal Globe that year. But it’s worth noting that he also has helped bring along Rebecca Passler, Hanna Auchentaller, and Michela Carrara the last few seasons as well.
It would be fair for some fans to note some disappointment that there has not been more rapid improvements amongst the younger cohort. I certainly wouldn’t argue against that. A couple of years ago I likely would have predicted to see the Trabucchi’s and Samuela Comola progressing a bit beyond where they are now. But it’s hard to quibble too much with his tenure which did bring Vittozzi back to being Vittozzi.
Now Kähkönen will head to Sweden to take over the position behind the scope for Johannes Lukas’ team. Lukas did just sign on for a new four year deal as the team lead. In many programs, such as wherever Ziggy Mazet happens to be or even in Kähkönen’s last stop the title of “shooting coach” is an undersell of how much they are really doing as de facto head coach of the team. However in this instance it does appear that Kähkönen will be operating under Lukas’ overall leadership.
If, and it’s a big if, Kähkönen can have the impact on the Swedish team that he had on Lisa Vittozzi then everybody better look out. We already know the Swedish program is full of talented skiers. But the hold up always seems to be hitting the targets. Even just moderate improvements from a handful of athletes could take this team to a new level. And that’s nothing against Chabloz’s leadership. By all accounts he’s a good coach. But sometimes a new voice and a new angle of approach can make all the difference.
I look particularly at, of course Martin Ponsiluoma, but actually at Sara Andersson and Anna-Karin Heijdenberg. Two talented youngsters, who have the speed, but lack the shooting consistency. There is a new level that can be unlocked here. The Swedish women already won the Nations Cup this past season and improved depth could give them the strength to defend it. And of course we’ll look to see what improvements the top athletes like Ponsi, Hanna, Elvira, Halvarsson, and Sebbe are able to make as well.
The other interesting part is that both the press release and the Instagram post about his hiring indicate that Kähkönen will “work closely with the skaters in a common structure where competencies are woven together into a whole with the active person at the center.” That quote is directly from the press release. Obviously he will be helping with the shooting but this is a very interesting line which indicates that he is going to have a bit of a multifocal approach. In medicine we call this a “holistic” approach which basically means that it’s important to look at the whole person and not just the one aspect that you’re trying to treat/coach that particular moment. I’m curious to see if this is just fluff for a press release or if he really is going to have a new type of role focused on coaching the whole athlete rather than just solely focusing on a single area.
Swedish Coaching Staff:
Sports Director: Anna-Maria Uusiatalo
Head Coach Johannes Lukas
Shooting Coach: Jonne Kähkönen
Shooting Coach: Johan Hagström
Logistics: Mattias Nilsson
🇵🇱 Poland– The Polish federation has made their decision and their decision is to make no change at all. Sometimes the best option is the one you already have who has already been making significant improvements.
For the women, Tobias Torgersen gets to finish the job. He took over the program after the 2021-2022 season and has overseen a dramatic turn around for the Polish women. If you remember back to that moment it felt like the Polish women were fading into obscurity. Their moment seemed to have passed and there wasn’t really an obvious reason to expect a turn around.
While maybe not a linear improvement, there has been significant growth to multiple athletes. Natalia Sidorowicz finished 30th Overall in the 2024-2025 season before dealing with back pain. Joanna Jakiela has seen significant skiing growth. Anna Maka has discovered a new career peak. Kamila Zuk, the once promising Juniors athlete, has started to turn things around in the last year including finishing 8th in the Olympic Sprint. The Women’s Relay had two big time races including 6th in Antholz and 5th in Kontiolahti. They finished the year 10th in the Overall giving them five starting positions in Sprints and Individuals next season!
The great news is that there this doesn’t feel like the peak. There is still more to be uncovered. It is great that Tobias Torgersen gets the chance to take them there.
On the men’s side, it’s no surprise that Uros Velepec will get to continue on with the men. Velepec only just started with the men before the 2025-2026 season. While there were promising signs from Jan Gunka and Konrad Badacz, last year Velepec took them to a new level. Early in the season there were some pretty good signs of skiing improvement. While that fell off later in the season as they fatigued, there was terrific shooting speed improvement. Both Gunka and Badacz improved roughly 4 seconds per shoot. Altogether they both significant career best seasons.
Gunka and Badacz are each still so young and just scratching the surface. Then there is Grzegorz Galica, the ultra talented teenager who has amazing potential. With the three of them that’s a very good core. Velepec absolutely earned the right to see where he can take this team. Velepec may not be the kind of coach who can take good teams to great places, but he certainly can significantly raise this Polish team up.
🇮🇹 Italia Women – TBD
🇺🇸 United States – TBD-
🇨🇭 Switzerland – TBD
🇧🇪 Belgium – TBD
🇦🇹 Austria ?