Earlier this week it was announced that Thomas Moeller has been named the latest German head coach by the DTU (German Triathlon Union).
Moeller appears a well-suited candidate for the job. However, his appointment is the latest in a long line over the past half dozen years.
Dan Lorang led the German team until 2016. After the Olympics that year, though, he was unceremoniously dismissed as the DTU were unhappy with the German team performance at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
Lorang has been one of the leading German coaches of the past decade. As an example, in 2019, he guided Jan Frodeno and Anne Haug to Ironman world titles, becoming the first coach to guide both the men’s and women’s winners to success at the same race. At the same time, he coached Justus Nieschlag to World Cup success.
After an interregnum with no head coach, the DTU turned its sights to Faris Al-Sultan, the Ironman world champion from 2005.
Al-Sultan had minimal short distance credentials so was a curious choice from the start. A number of athletes reported their displeasure with his leadership throughout his term. One such complaint that emerged was Al-Sultan’s fat-shaming of elite athletes.
The straw that appeared to break the donkey’s back, though, were Al-Sultan’s numerous anti-vaccine comments on social media during the pandemic. In April 2020, he wrote to the newspaper Der Spiegel that he was ashamed of people who accepted the measures against COVID-19 without objection.
In his words, they “die Hände an die Hosennaht legt und ‘Jawohl, mein Führer’ schreit“, which translates to “puts their hands on their trouser seams and shouts ‘Yes, my Führer‘”. Given Germany’s delicate history with Nazism, this understandably went down like a lead balloon.
After drawing public criticism and risking damaging the reputation of the sport in Germany, the DTU elected to move him on.
In an interview in August 2022, Al-Sultan reiterated his opposition to German pandemic policies.
Regarding his role as German head coach, in Al-Sultan’s words, “ich hatte einfach keine Lust mehr, dazu kamen kleinere interne Streitigkeiten. Mein Traumjob war das eh nicht, also habe ich aufgehört”. (Translation: I just didn’t feel like it anymore, plus there were minor internal disputes. It wasn’t my dream job anyway, so I quit.)
He stated that he handed in his notice at the end of March 2020, with his end date coming at the end of September 2020. He then proceeded to embrace fighting culture wars with his April letter over his responsibilities as German head coach, putting the athletes under his charge in an awkward position
In Al-Sultan’s place came Louis Delahaije. While anyone would probably have been an improvement on Al-Sultan, Delahaije came in highly regarded. Having formerly coached Rachel Klamer, he was appointed to the position in the spring of 2022.
Less than a year later, he is out with personal reasons cited as the reason for Delahaije’s departure.
With four head coaches in less than six years, it would be understandable if the members of the German national team felt a little dizzy at all the changes.
In spite of this, they have enjoyed remarkable success in recent years.
Laura Lindemann won WTCS Hamburg in 2021, as did Tim Hellwig. In 2022, Lisa Terstch and Lena Meißner won their first WTCS medals. Moreover, Lasse Lührs has firmly established himself in the world’s top-10 after a 2022 in which he finished 3rd at WTCS Leeds and 4th at WTCS Cagliari.
Nor should the German Mixed Team Relay success be overlooked. A win in the relay in Leeds in 2022 preceded a bronze in the relay in Hamburg and then a relay silver medal at the European Championships.
Prior to that, they won the relay in Hamburg in 2021 after winning the silver medal at the world championships at the same venue in 2019.
There is also plenty of young talent coming through too, as demonstrated by the strong performances by the team at the recent World U23 Championships in Abu Dhabi.
There is a degree to which the German performances improved considerably after September 2020, although it may be too soon to draw a direct causation.
Either way, with Moeller at the helm the hope will be that the German squad can sustain its current level of success. For some, a period of stability would be welcome. If Moeller plays his cards right, he may have arrived at the perfect time to help his athletes on to success at the Paris Olympics.
