ALPINE:

Swiss alpine coach Rufener headed to private sector after season

Dec. 31, 2010 

Switzerland’s ski federation says men's alpine head coach Martin Rufener will leave the team at the end of the season.

The federation said in a statement it could not agree a contract to keep Rufener through the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and has started looking for a replacement.

Rufener took charge in 2004 when Switzerland was overshadowed by a dominant Austrian squad.

Under Rufener, the Swiss men won their first Olympic alpine gold medals since 1988. Didier Defago won the downhill and Carlo Janka captured the giant slalom at Vancouver in February.

Janka also became Switzerland's first World Cup overall champion since 1992.

The 51-year-old head coach from the Bernese Oberland could not come to an agreement on a contract extension with Swiss Ski and will accept a new challenge in the private sector as CEO of air carrier Swiss Jet.

"With Martin Rufener, we lose a very successful and effective discipline coach," Swiss Ski competitive sports chief Dierk Beisel said.

The search for a successor has already started and the necessary discussions are being held in the coming weeks.

"First however the focus will be on the current season and the upcoming Alpine World Ski Championships with Martin Rufener and his team,” said Swiss Ski president Urs Lehmann. S-Magazine

— The Canadian Press and FIS contributed to this report