With Herbert Mandl, there is a separate sports director for the alpine, the cross-country skiers are returning to the ski association.
With 15 medals, seven of them in gold alone, the ÖSV celebrated the second most successful winter games in the history of the association in Beijing. In many places one would probably sit back and savor the moment of happiness in the rush of victory, but the ski association is in a mood of optimism and upheaval.
A few days after returning from China, President Roswitha Stadlober and her closest confidants Patrick Ortlieb (CFO) and Christian Scherer (Secretary General) have already set the first personal course for the future.
With Herbert Mandl, a sports director is installed for the entire alpine area. The Lower Austrian, in whose era as head of the ÖSV women saw the successes of the Meissnitzer, Götschl, Dorfmeister, Schild and Hosp generation, will from now on coordinate skiing from the World Cup down to the junior level.
stranger/Stefan SigwarthNew impulses
The association management saw the need for this personnel measure, especially with regard to the home World Cup 2025 in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. President Roswitha Stadlober is certain that he will set new impulses.
The timing of Herbert Mandl’s presentation, who reports to Anton Giger in the ÖSV hierarchy, may seem irritating at first, “but we have made a conscious decision to take this step now. This gives Herbert Mandl the opportunity to hold talks with everyone involved during the season and to draw his conclusions from them,” explains General Secretary Christian Scherer.
APA/EXPA/JOHANN GRODER / EXPA/JOHANN GRODERA new position will be created for Mandl, who has been managing director of the Bergisel Betriebsgesellschaft and the Ski Austria Academy in St. Christoph in recent years. There has never been a person responsible in the alpine sector with such far-reaching competencies.
Patrick Riml is currently in charge of the “High-performance Alpine Sports” department at the ÖSV. They don’t want to do without the expertise and experience of the former US Alpine Director, the Ötztaler should be kept in another function.
APA/EXPA/JOHAN GRODERIt is quite possible that Riml will end up with the ÖSV women in the future. Because there the chief post will be vacant at the end of the season after Christian Mitter announced his departure. The Styrian took office in 2019, but was recently criticized because there was no success. In the current season, the women have only managed one World Cup win so far.
Andreas Puelacher, on the other hand, is likely to remain the boss, although some have already said that he is tired of his job. However, the Tyrolean has had some successes in recent seasons, the men’s team has managed to ensure that no one mourns the loss of serial winner Marcel Hirscher.
There are also personnel changes at ÖSV outside of top-class sport. After Roswitha Stadlober got an idea of the organizational structure and the employees since taking office in October, press officer Stefan Illek parted ways on Monday. According to information from the KURIER, the President was very decisive in this conversation and found clear words.
The underrated president
How many may have underestimated the former slalom runner. Roswitha Stadlober, who originally only got into the presidency after Karl Schmidhofer voluntarily retired, is by no means a puppet of the state associations, but demonstrates doer qualities in interaction with Secretary General Scherer and CFO Ortlieb.
However, the reform process that was initiated by Peter Schröcksnadel after the end of the 30-year era is far from over. The ÖSV will also adapt its internal structures, dealing with issues such as marketing, external positioning and synergies between the various ÖSV companies. The ÖSV simply has to move with the times.
Cross-country skiers back at the ÖSV
In this new era, cross-country skiers will again be official members of the ÖSV family. After the doping scandal in 2019 around the home World Cup in Seefeld, President Schröcks Nadel’s division was spun off from the association into a club.
Under Roswitha Stadlober, the cross-country skiers return to the lap of the ÖSV. Alois Stadlober, the father of medal winner Teresa and husband of the ÖSV President, is planned as the overall coordinator for cross-country skiing. In some places there has already been criticism of this constellation, but on the other hand there is probably no one in Austria who knows cross-country skiing as well as Alois Stadlober. “That would appeal to me,” says the 59-year-old.