Wenzl started cross-country skiing at the age of six. He started regional races for the first time at the age of 14. He specialized in the sprint discipline. He made his debut in the cross-country skiing world cup on December 14, 2004 in Asiago, Italy . He got his first World Cup points in December 2005 in Nove Mesto with 18th place in the sprint. In the same month he became German sprint champion. At the U23 World Championships in 2006 in Kranj , he won the silver medal in the sprint. In the 2006/07 season he qualified with two top ten placements in the World Cup (sixth in Düsseldorf and eighth in Rybinsk, Russia ) for the 2007 World Championships in Sapporo , where he reached 14th place in the sprint. At the U23 World Championships 2007 in Tarvisio , he achieved 16th place in the sprint. On October 27, 2007, he achieved his final breakthrough in Düsseldorf with his first World Cup victory. A shoulder injury from a training accident on November 27, 2007 forced him to take an approximately two-month break from competition.
After initially assuming that the season was over for him, he was able to compete in the FIS World Cup in Canmore, Canada on January 27, 2008, just seven weeks after the shoulder operation, and promptly reached the final of the freestyle sprint (fifth place in the final ranking ). His trainer Jochen Behle spoke of a “miracle cure”. He finished the season in 16th place in the Sprint World Cup. After a weak start to the 2008/09 season with two placements outside the points, he came fifth in Davos and third in the sprint in Vancouver . In January 2009 he became German sprint champion . At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec in 2009 , he finished 24th in the sprint. In the Sprint World Cup, he achieved 21st place. In the 2009/10 season he reached seven individual sprints in the World Cup, twice the points and once a placement in the top ten. In Rybinsk he finished third in the team sprint together with Tim Tscharnke . In February 2010, he came in 31st place in the sprint at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. In the same month he became German champion in the sprint and together with Michael Schnetzer in the team sprint . The following year he reached the 39th place in the sprint at the Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in Oslo . In the 2011/12 season he won eight sprints in the World Cup, seven times the points. At the sprint in Milan , he finished second and finished the season in 15th place in the Sprint World Cup. In the following season he reached the points only once in four individual sprints in the World Cup. He completed his best World Cup season to date in 2013/14 . In all seven individual sprints, he came in the points. He finished second in the sprint in Szklarska Poręba and third in Dobbiaco . At the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi , he finished 31st in the sprint, just like four years earlier. In March 2014, he and Sebastian Eisenlauer won the team sprint at the 2014 German Cross-Country Championships in Rohrmoos . He finished the season in third place in the Sprint World Cup. He could not repeat these good results in the following season 2014/15 . His best individual result of the season was 30th place in the sprint in Davos.
Wenzl has taken part in 13 races of the Alpine Cup so far . He won his only Alpine Cup victory to date in the sprint in Zwiesel in February 2009 .
Private
Josef Wenzl starts for the Zwiesel ski club . After completing secondary school, he applied to customs, where he was accepted into the ski team due to his success. In Bärnzell his parents run a fully working adventure farm.
Germany
German championships
