Maximilian Mechler surprisingly resigned as national coach of the German ski jumpers shortly before the start of the season.
The 39-year-old said in a statement that he regretted the timing of his resignation, but he had “realized in the last few weeks that I was no longer reaching the team in the way that was necessary.” The World Cup season starts on December 2nd in Lillehammer.
Mechler took over the office from Andreas Bauer in April 2021 and continued his successful work. In addition to Katharina Schmid, who won three of four possible world championship titles in Planica in the spring under her maiden name Althaus, Selina Freitag is now also one of the world’s best.
“Consistent step”
“Working with this team has given me a lot of joy over the years,” said Mechler. But he is “firmly convinced that this is the right, consistent step.” The women’s national team will be led on an interim basis by previous assistant coach Thomas Juffinger next season.
Horst Hüttel, the German Ski Association’s sports director responsible for ski jumping, regretted the decision and emphasized Mechler’s “extremely committed and highly professional work”. Mechler will remain with the association and will support the men’s junior teams in the future.
