Sverre Olsbu Røiseland (31) will be the new national team manager for the German biathlon women.
THE SKIER COUPLE: Sverre Olsbu Røiseland has been his wife Marte’s most important supporter for a number of years. Now he continues his career in Germany. This picture is from Holmenkollen where Marte received the trophy after winning the World Cup overall.
Photo: Jostein Magnussen
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The 31-year-old takes over as national team coach for Denise Herrmann and the German biathlon women – a job that Florian Steirer has had for the past four years.
Sverre Olsbu Røiseland, who is married to Marte Olsbu Røiseland, has for the past five years worked as a coach for the women’s development national team in the Norwegian Biathlon Association. His agreement with the Norwegian association expired after this season.
– I have worked for five years in Norway in a very exciting job by building up a new recruiting national team on the women’s side. It has been exciting, very fun and with a nice bunch. The new job is very exciting. It is a challenge and something new that will help me become an even better coach and give new experience. It is of course great to be asked to work with one of the great nations in biathlon, says Sverre Olsbu Røiseland to VG.
The wife is naturally happy on behalf of the husband.
– I’m just very proud of Sverre who gets such an opportunity! Being brought to such a big biathlon nation is just insanely big, and I’m really looking forward on Sverre’s behalf. So I think it is very deserved, says Marte Olsbu Røiseland.
While her husband has made a new career choice until after the Olympics in 2026, Marte Olsbu Røiseland has still not decided whether she will continue her biathlon career or not. She will make that decision in the near future.
Support player
Sverre Olsbu Røiseland is a former biathlete and has naturally been Marte’s most important supporter for a number of years. The two met on the biathlon line at Sirdal upper secondary school.
In Germany, the Norwegian coach Felix Bitterling gets the top manager. The two know each other well as Bitterling has been the sports director of the International Biathlon Federation, IBU, for almost 13 years. The 44-year-old formally took over as commander of the German biathletes from 1 April.
Uros Velepec (54) from Slovenia takes over as the new men’s coach. He and Olsbu Røiseland will work with head coach Kristian Mehringer.
Olsbu Røiseland takes over a national team where Denise Herrmann claimed the best this season. The 33-year-old took Olympic gold in the normal distance in Beijing, won one World Cup victory and was on the podium three times. Herrmann, who finished sixth in the World Cup overall, has also said that she will look at what kind of coaching solution the German association comes up with before she decides to continue.
Now DSV chose to go for a Norwegian. He also gets to work with Vanessa Voigt (24) who was number 13 in the overall cup and Franziska Preuss (28) who became third best German with her 21st place in the summary.
Despite the lack of results in recent seasons, biathlon is still the most popular winter sport in Germany.
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