Toboggan coach Loch quits
German coaching legend says tearful farewell
March 3, 2024, 9:53 p.m
Norbert Loch is taking his hat off as national toboggan coach after 16 years. The 61-year-old experienced a fitting farewell in Sigulda. His son Felix plays a prank on him. The coach’s unparalleled career brought German athletes a total of 119 medals at World Championships and Olympic Games.
Norbert Loch sat in the finish area, touched and soaking wet. After his team showered with champagne, tears welled up in the outgoing national coach’s eyes. After 16 years, an era for German tobogganing ended on Sunday, and the almost cheesy victory at the end of the team relay in Sigulda was the icing on the cake for Loch’s farewell to an unprecedented career.
“It’s a happy moment, also because it turned out successfully. It shows what the boys and girls are all capable of. All I can say is that I’m proud of everything, of my whole team,” said an emotional Loch: “There’s nothing better than being able to work together like that. I wish the team and my successor all the best.”
The champagne shower was the idea of son Felix and the injured overall World Cup winner Max Langenhan, who was connected live via video call in Sigulda. “I know he hates it,” said Felix Loch with a laugh, “but we have a spare jacket with us.” The whole team once again “showed top performances in these two weeks. I think he can calmly hand over to Leiti (Patric Leitner, editor’s note),” said Loch about his father’s withdrawal. Leitner, 2002 Olympic champion in the doubles, is his successor.
119 times precious metal for Loch protégés
Overall, Norbert Loch can look back on a great sporting life’s work; he has trained the golden generation around his son and Natalie Geisenberger since childhood, first as a state coach in Bavaria, then as boss. He was responsible for a total of 119 precious metals at world championships and the Olympic Games.
“We experienced so much together and were able to celebrate successes that I don’t think either of us would have thought possible,” six-time Olympic champion Geisenberger wrote on Instagram on Saturday: “We argued and made up again, we laughed and celebrated. You were an incredibly important piece of the puzzle in my sporting life and I will never forget what you did for me personally and for the sport of tobogganing in general.”
Loch’s work also paid off this season, he led Langenhan to the World Cup title and his first overall World Cup victory, and Julia Taubitz also secured the overall World Cup. On Sunday in Sigulda there was no victory in the single-seater, but there were three podium places. “I put team performance at the top,” said Loch: “I hope that we continue to be able to be so united as a team. That is the key to success.”
The 61-year-old will not retire completely yet; after the season he will work as manager at the base in Berchtesgaden for “two to three years” and will also be responsible for bobsleigh and skeleton there. He also wants to support the reconstruction of the railway at Königssee. In his private life, he is looking forward to more time with his wife and traveling together in the motorhome he purchased in 2023.