Individual athletes who reach the top of the world thanks to team spirit: With a young coach, even younger athletes, equipped by a relatively young brand, should shape the major events of the future.
Coach Thomas Dreissigacker (left) explains the warm-up exercises in the Letzigrund Stadium to four of his athletes.
Normally in athletics one speaks of individual athletes. And when we talk about the On brand, Roger Federer might come to mind, but above all it’s about shoes. On Tuesday afternoon, On-CEO Marc Maurer and On-co-founder Olivier Bernhard often spoke in the brand’s slogans in Zurich’s Letzigrund, about the feeling of walking on clouds and about dreams. Walking on clouds. dream on
But they also mentioned words like “team spirit” and “athletics” in the same context, and they said teams are more important than nationalities in athletics as well. This is her vision, her dream.
The On Athletics Club (OAC) has existed in the United States since 2020, based in Boulder and coached by former American top runner Dathan Ritzenhein. Within a year he coached five of the eleven athletes at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The project in the USA should one day be as successful as the former Nike Oregon Project – without the scandals, of course.
Trained by the Nagelsmann of athletics
And now the next project follows, it is the first of its kind in Europe. The OAC Europe focuses on the 1500 m distance. The six athletes are between 19 and 25 years old and are coached by the German Thomas Dreissigacker.
Dreissigacker, 34, is the Julian Nagelsmann of German athletics. At the age of 29 he became the head national coach for Lauf, and in 2021 he was a base coach in Leipzig. He has been the head coach of OAC Europe since January 2022. He says: «I saw it as an opportunity for me to work professionally with everything that goes with it. It’s a bit more difficult within the association structures.”
Dreissigacker sees a great advantage in training athletes from different countries; the competition is different. “Of course, they may be direct competitors at meetings, but they don’t compete for the same starting places at major events.” The mutual support is therefore greater.
His day-to-day life hasn’t changed much, however: the group is currently still stationed in Leipzig, they traveled to South Africa for a training camp in January, and the summer base is in St. Moritz. Doing the training in English is the biggest change for Dreissigacker.
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Dreissigacker’s team includes athletes from Great Britain, the Netherlands and Spain. The Swiss Tom Elmer was absent from the team presentation in the Letzigrund; he is currently in Los Angeles and wants to try to undercut the world championship limits over 1500 m. At 25, Elmer is the oldest athlete on the team.
The youngest athlete is Fabiane Meyer, 19, from Germany. For the On-Team she dropped out of her studies in the USA and returned to Europe. When On approached her, she couldn’t say no. It was the first time that she was able to subordinate everything to sport and, thanks to professional structures, could improve her times.
The team around Meyer and Elmer is equipped by On, Dreissigacker creates the training plan, also in consultation with a physiotherapist. The goals are clear: Olivier Bernhard speaks of the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028, Thirty Sack of good performances at major events in the coming years. This season is primarily about turning the young talents into professional athletes.
In addition to the sporting goals, On wants to turn the brand into culture. CEO Maurer says: “Skaters, for example, can also be recognized outside of the skate park by their clothing. The same is possible in athletics. Our athletes can also wear their sportswear in everyday life.» On should not only become a figurehead at the Olympic Games, but also in everyday life.