BIOGRAPHY
Joachim Winterlich was born in Oberwiesenthal, East Germany on 17.03.1942. Winterlich was a member of the SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal ski jumping club. In three successive years (1965, 1966 and 1967), he represented the club and placed third in the East German Nordic combined championship.
Winterlich has been the trainer and assistant trainer for several countries including Kazakhstan, Germany, Switzerland and Bulgaria. He is a former coach of Jens Weissflog, the most successful German ski jumper of all time, who retired in 1996. He has been critical of the coaching of junior ski jumpers in Germany, citing bad results from up-and-comers such as the 18 year old Tobias Bogner. Winterlich also caused a major improvement in team Kazakhstan. He worked much with Radik Zhaparov, the best one of the jumpers from Kazakhstan. In July 2007, three years before his contract was to expire in 2010, Winterlich officially left the role as main instructor of Team Kazakhstan. As of 2008, he is the main trainer of the Bulgaria Ski Jumping Team. Winterlich spends most of his time coaching Vladimir Zografski, the only Bulgarian competing in the FIS Ski jumping World Cup. The assistant trainer for Bulgaria is Emil Zografski (Vladimir's father).
Contributions to the sport
In 2002, Winterlich invented a glass ceramic inrun trail at the Bischofsgrün ski jumping facility in Germany. Together with the already existing plastic mats, it allows ski jumping in both summer and winter. Winterlich also helped to inprove the jumping arena in Garmisch Partenkirchen. |