Matthias Mayer is back on skis after his retirement in 2023. This time not as a racer, but as a coach.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Matthias Mayer was part of a training course for the Austrian speed team. However, not as a rider, but as a kind of "trainer trainee", as "OÖNachrichten" writes.
- Mayer retired from professional sport in January 2023. He had recently been struggling with mental health problems.
- Mayer has since recovered and is back on the ski circuit full of energy.
Matthias Mayer retired from skiing in January 2023. A year later, he was in the headlines elsewhere in Kitzbühel. The three-time Olympic champion was apparently heavily intoxicated at the reception hosted by Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Governor of Lower Austria. He was reported to have verbally abused people and insulted the governor personally. He was then admitted to a clinic due to mental health problems.
Now Mayer is back on the ski slopes. But not as a skier, but as a coach. Last summer, the 34-year-old coached the next generation of his home club. According to "OÖNachrichten", he is said to have had a stint with the Austrian speed team a week ago, as a "trainee" on a training course.
"I last had contact with Mothl in the summer and I know that he is heavily involved in the youth sector back home in Carinthia. He made a very good impression on me," says former ÖSV sports director Hans Pum according to the report.
Meyer as ambassador for the World Championships in Saalbach?
There is also talk of Mayer acting as an ambassador for the 2025 World Ski Championships in Saalbach. Former downhill skier Bartl Gensbichler, who brought the title fights to Saalbach, told "Blick" in September: "Before the incident in Kitzbühel, Matthias interpreted his role as ambassador in a truly outstanding manner and with a great deal of passion."
From what Gensbichler had heard, Meyer had stabilized thanks to appropriate therapy. He could therefore "very well" imagine Mayer returning to the team for the World Championships in Saalbach.
