Hermann Weinbuch, star coach

It was late in the evening on 20 February, 2018. At the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang a rather unusual press conference was taking place. On the podium were not only the medallists in the Nordic combined - Johannes Rydzek, Fabian Rießle, Eric Frenzel – but their coach, too.

The assembled media were not only clamouring to see the stars who had triumphed (in the Gundersen large hill/10 km), but the man who had coached them to success. For all who love the discipline of Nordic combined, Germany’s former head coach Hermann Weinbuch is something of a legend.

As an athlete, Weinbuch enjoyed numerous successes, including two gold medals at the 1985 World Championships in Seefeld; becoming the best combined athlete of the 1985/86 season; being the first non-Norwegian to win the World Cup; and defending the team title at the 1987 World Championships in Oberstdorf alongside Hans-Peter Pohl and Thomas Müller. At the end of that season he retired from the World Cup on a high, with a victory in Oslo.

Though Weinbuch enjoyed success as an athlete, it was as a coach that he really made his name. In 1996 he became head coach for Germany, beginning an extraordinary run of success. Over 27 years he had a guiding hand in the careers of Ronny Ackermann, Eric Frenzel, Johannes Rydzek, Vinzenz Geiger, Julian Schmid and many more. Together they won 57 medals at World Championships or Olympic Games. When Weinbuch retired in 2023, it was with a record that is unique – and possibly unsurpassable.