René Sommerfeldt

René Sommerfeldt
René Sommerfeldt (2006)
nation	Germany
birthday	2nd October 1974 (age 45)
place of birth	Zittau ,  German Democratic Republic
size	175 cm
Weight	70 kg
Career
job	Sports soldier
discipline	Cross-country skiing
society	WSC Erzgebirge Oberwiesenthal
Trainer	Janko Neuber
End of career	2010
Medal table
Olympic medals 0 × 1 × 1 × World Cup medals 0 × 2 × 1 ×
winter Olympics bronze 2002 Salt Lake City Season silver 2006 Turin Season  Nordic World Ski Championships silver 2001 Lahti 50 km freestyle bronze 2001 Lahti Season silver 2003 Val di Fiemme Season
Placements in the cross-country skiing world cup
Debut in the World Cup January 13, 1996  World Cup victories in individual 3 ( details )  World Cup victories in the team 2 ( details )  Overall World Cup 1st ( 2003/04 ), 2nd ( 2002/03 , 2007/08 )  Sprint World Cup 10th (2002/03)  Distance World Cup 1. (2003/04)  Tour de Ski 2. (2007/08)
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Sprint races 0 1 0  Distance races 3 7th 6th  Season 2 3 4th  Team sprint 0 3 2
Placements in the Continental Cup (COC)
Debut in the Continental Cup February 19, 1994  Continental Cup victories 1 ( details )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  COC individual race 1 1 0
Placements in the marathon or Worldloppet Cup
Debut in the Cup December 13, 2009  Overall rating 31st ( 2009/10 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Single race 0 0 1

René Sommerfeldt (born October 2, 1974 in Zittau ) is a former German cross-country skier . He was the first German cross-country skier to win the overall ranking of the cross-country world cup in the 2003/04 season . Along with Tobias Angerer and Axel Teichmann, he is one of the most successful German cross-country skiers today .

Life

Sommerfeldt first got on cross-country skis at the age of seven. The talented athlete was able to record his first successes quickly and switched to the children's and youth sports school in Klingenthal , where he also graduated from high school in 1993 . After graduating from high school, he joined the Bundeswehr as a sports soldier ( Oberhof sports promotion group ). In 1994 René Sommerfeldt moved to Oberwiesenthal and started for the Bavarian club WSV Oberweißbrunn . Since 2001 he has been at the start for the sports club WSC Erzgebirge Oberwiesenthal . There he was trained by Heinz Nestler , Holger Bauroth and Janko Neuber , among others . Since 2010 he has been training as a trainer at the trainer academy in Cologne and works as a junior trainer in the German Ski Association and at the Oberwiesenthal base.

He lives with his wife Dajana and their son Tristan, who is active in Nordic combined , in Oberwiesenthal.

Career

Junior period and first international medals (1994 to 2001)

Already at the Junior World Championships in 1994 in Breitenwang , Sommerfeldt showed his talent as a fifth over 10 kilometers. In the following years, he played in the Continental Cup, where he was able to place in the front field. Sommerfeldt made his first appearance in the cross-country skiing world cup in January 1996 in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic, over 15 kilometers, where he finished 52nd out of 89 participants. Just a month later he was able to collect his first World Cup points in Trondheim, Norway , finishing 18th over 30 kilometers of freestyle. In Lahti, Finland, he fought for the same distance with eleventh place, his best placement in the 1995/96 season, in which he was able to occupy 43rd place in the overall World Cup. The freestyle specialist achieved his first top ten placement in 1997 in Hakuba, Japan, with ninth place over 15 kilometers of freestyle. At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim in 1997 , he finished 27th in the pursuit. Over 10 kilometers classic he was 37th and with the German team he took sixth place in the relay competition. Sommerfeldt's performance stagnated up to the 1999/2000 season. At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano , Japan , he took 29th place in the pursuit competition, 26th place over 50 kilometers of freestyle, 38th place over 10 kilometers classic and eighth place with the relay. In the 1998/99 season, Sommerfeldt was only able to win World Cup points with eleventh place in the sprint in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . Otherwise he only placed himself outside of the points. At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Ramsau am Dachstein in 1999 , it was only enough to place 40, 41 and 44 in the pursuit competition, over 30 kilometers freestyle and 10 kilometers classic.

In the 1999/2000 season, Sommerfeldt made his breakthrough into the extended world elite. In Ulrichen, he achieved his first podium finish over 10 kilometers in freestyle with third place. He was also able to take fourth and seventh place in the sprint competitions in Lahti and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. With eighth place over 30 kilometers freestyle in Moscow and fifth place in the pursuit competition in Bormio , he was able to book two more top ten placements. In the overall World Cup, he finished thirteenth at the end of the season. After the end of the World Cup season, Sommerfeldt competed in the military world championships in Saalfelden and won the title over 15 kilometers freestyle . The Saxon made his second podium a year later in Soldier Hollow , when he was able to take third place again over 30 kilometers of freestyle (mass start) behind Johann Mühlegg and Christian Hoffmann . This season he was able to book three fourth places in World Cup competitions and was able to place in the top ten in the overall World Cup with sixth place. At the Nordic World Ski Championships 2001 in Lahti, however, he was only 34th in the pursuit in his first competition. In the sprint he reached the finals and finished eighth. Over the distance of 50 kilometers freestyle, Sommerfeldt surprisingly won the silver medal behind Johann Mühlegg. When Sommerfeldt was overtaken by the Spaniard, who started two minutes later, he hung on the ends of his ski and thus secured his first international medal. It was the first medal for German cross-country skiers at world championships since 1974. Together with Jens Filbrich , Andreas Schlütter and Ron Spanuth , he was also able to look forward to the bronze medal in the relay competition after the doping-related disqualification in Finland.

Overall World Cup victory and knee problems (2001 to 2006)

After a moderate start to the 2001/02 season, Sommerfeldt concentrated entirely on preparing for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and did not take part in any World Cup competitions from the beginning of January 2002 until the Olympic Games. In Salt Lake City, he finished 16 th place as the best German starter over 30 kilometers of freestyle. In the pursuit competition, he increased his performance and finished tenth. In the relay competition he surprisingly won the bronze medal behind Norway and Italy together with Jens Filbrich, Andreas Schlütter and Tobias Angerer . The final runner Sommerfeldt quickly managed to overtake the Estonian runner in front of him and safely cross the finish line with the first German cross-country relay medal at the Olympic Games. In the subsequent sprint competition he took 19th place. At the end of the season he achieved his best result of the season with fifth place at the World Cup in Oslo over 50 kilometers of freestyle. Right at the beginning of the 2002/03 season, Sommerfeldt fought numerous placements among the top ten. So it was not surprising that he was able to celebrate his first World Cup victory in Kawgolowo, Russia . He won over 10 kilometers of freestyle at minus 20 degrees, clearly ahead of Mathias Fredriksson and Axel Teichmann. The highlight of the season, the Nordic World Ski Championships 2003 in Val di Fiemme , was disappointing due to health problems in the individual competitions with places 18 in the pursuit, 19 in the sprint and 23 over 50 kilometers freestyle. But as before at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, the German relay managed to intervene in the battle for the medals. After a good start by Jens Fillbrich, Andreas Schlütter handed over to Sommerfeldt in fifth place, who was able to reduce the gap to the top and handed over to Axel Teichmann in fourth. Teichmann managed to take the lead together with the Norwegian Thomas Alsgaard . After a thrilling finish, the German relay team won the silver medal and celebrated their greatest success in 29 years. After Sommerfeldt was allowed to wear the yellow jersey of the World Cup leader several times, at the end of the season he only had to admit defeat to the outstanding Mathias Fredriksson. In the Sprint World Cup, too, he achieved his best result to date with tenth place. After the end of the World Cup season he started at the Military World Championships in Rovaniemi , where he won the gold medal over 15 kilometers freestyle for the second time since 2000.

In the 2003/04 season, Sommerfeldt managed to improve again compared to previous ones. In 16 of the 18 World Cup competitions in which he participated, he was able to run into the top ten. He won the pursuit competition in Oberstdorf and the 50 kilometer freestyle in Oslo. There were also five further podium finishes. With these achievements he was able to keep last year's winner in the overall World Cup, Mathias Fredriksson, at a distance and in the end he was the first German cross-country skier to win the overall World Cup with a lead of 350 points. He also won the overall standings in the distance races. Sommerfeldt was able to build on these successes at the beginning of the following season and fight for podium places several times, although he was handicapped by a knee injury that he sustained while playing soccer in the summer. In the course of the year, however, he was plagued more and more often by knee problems, so that he could not build on his real strength at the home World Cup in Oberstdorf. The 28th place in the pursuit competition was the best result he could achieve. Over 15 kilometers of freestyle it was only enough for 34th place. In the relay competition he was not used at all, after which he left early. After the world championship, Sommerfeldt only contested two world cup competitions and at the end of the season still finished fifth in the overall world cup, which was won by Axel Teichmann. After he had to reduce his training due to knee problems, he was unable to build on the performances of the last few years in the 2005/06 season, and he rarely achieved top ten placements. At the 2006 Winter Olympics , Sommerfeldt was also weakened by gastrointestinal flu , so he had to end the persecution competition early. In the unpopular classic technique, he achieved a respectable result over 15 kilometers with eleventh place. He was also able to convince in the relay competition and won the silver medal in the relay competition behind hosts Italy with his teammates Jens Filbrich, Andreas Schlütter and Tobias Angerer.

For this he received the silver bay leaf on April 26, 2006.

Weakened by the illness, he was only able to take 36th place over 50 kilometers of freestyle.

Comeback and renewed health problems (2006 to today)

René Sommerfeldt during the Tour de Ski 2010 in Oberhof

The 2006/07 season also began with mixed results for Sommerfeldt. In the Tour de Ski , which was held for the first time, in the second competition, the pursuit in Oberstdorf, he dropped hopelessly to 40th place. He managed to reduce his deficit on the next stage with his second place over 15 kilometers, but in the end, despite fifth place in the final mountain pursuit, he was only 15th overall. He was also unable to compete in the individual competitions at the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2007 place in the top ten, whereupon he was not nominated for the season competition. In the pursuit competition he finished 13th as the worst German, over 15 kilometers freestyle he was 19th and in the final competition over 15 kilometers classic he took 15th place. At the end of the season, which he finished in 17th place in the overall World Cup as in the previous year, he achieved his best result of the season with fourth place in Oslo over 50 kilometers. It was not until the 2007/08 season that Sommerfeldt managed to catch up with the world's best. With consistent performance, he won second place in the 2007/08 Tour de Ski . In the final mountain pursuit he managed to move up from ninth to second with the best time of all starters. With two further second places in Canmore and Lahti and further top ten placements, he was able to secure second place in the overall World Cup. In preparation for the 2008/09 season , Sommerfeldt was restricted by complaints of the Achilles tendon . At the season opener in Gällivare he was only able to finish 54th and then took a break from competition due to muscular problems. Even at the Tour de Ski 2008/09 he did not find his way back to his old level of performance and had to end the tour prematurely after the third stage due to a cold. Before he could intervene in the competition again, he injured himself playing volleyball and contracted a ligament stretch. At his first start since the Tour de Ski in Rybinsk , he achieved his best position of the season and partial qualification for the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2009 with a 15th place over 15 kilometers freestyle . At the World Championships in Liberec he had bad luck with broken sticks at both of his starts over 30 km pursuit and over 50 km freestyle. Nevertheless he reached a 6th place in the 50 km race. At the World Cup finals in Falun , he achieved his best position of the season with fifth place in the prologue. He finished the season in 61st place in the overall World Cup. With an eleventh place on the penultimate stage of the Tour de Ski 2009/10 , Sommerfeld secured his ticket for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver . On the last stage he again proved his climbing skills with seventh place and fought his way up to sixth place overall. At the 30-kilometer pursuit competition in Rybinsk, in the absence of most of the world's elite, he achieved his best position of the season with fourth place. In Vancouver he finished 35th over 15 kilometers of freestyle and was 21st in the pursuit competition. With the German relay he took 6th place. In his last Olympic event, the 50 kilometers classic, he was 21 again. On March 16, 2010, Sommerfeldt announced that he would end his career at the end of the 2009/10 season. He contested his last World Cup race on March 21, 2010 in Falun (SWE). He is aiming for a coaching career with DSV. He finished his last season in twelfth place in the overall and distance world cup.

successes

Victories in world cup races

World Cup victories in individual

No.	date	place	discipline
1.	January 4, 2003	Kavgolovo	10 km freestyle individual start
2.	February 13, 2004	Oberstdorf	2 × 15 km skiathlon
3.	February 28, 2004	Oslo	50 km freestyle individual start

Stage victories in world cup races

No.	date	place	discipline	run
4th	January 6, 2008	Val di Fiemme	10 km mountain pursuit freestyle 1	Tour de Ski 2007/08

¹ Counted as the winner due to the fastest running time.

World Cup victories in the team

No.	date	place	discipline
1.	November 23, 2003	Beitostølen	4 × 10 km relay 2
2.	November 21, 2004	Gällivare	4 × 10 km relay 2

² With Jens Filbrich , Axel Teichmann and Tobias Angerer .

Victories in Continental Cup races

No.	date	place	discipline	series
1.	January 4, 1999	Furtwangen	15 km classic	Continental Cup

Participation in World Championships and Olympic Winter Games

Olympic games

• 1998 Nagano : 8th place relay, 26th place 50 km freestyle, 29th place 25 km pursuit, 38th place 10 km classic
• 2002 Salt Lake City : 3rd place relay, 10th place 20 km pursuit, 16th place 30 km freestyle mass start, 19th place sprint freestyle
• 2006 Turin : 2nd place relay, 11th place 15 km classic, 36th place 50 km freestyle mass start
• 2010 Vancouver : 6th place relay, 21st place 30 km pursuit, 21st place 50 km classic mass start, 36th place 15 km freestyle

Nordic World Ski Championships

• 1997 Trondheim : 6th place relay, 27th place 25 km pursuit, 37th place 10 km classic
• 1999 Ramsau : 40th place 25 km pursuit, 41st place 30 km freestyle, 44th place 10 km classic
• 2001 Lahti : 2nd place 50 km freestyle, 3rd place relay, 8th place sprint freestyle, 34th place 20 km pursuit
• 2003 Val di Fiemme : 2nd place relay, 18th place 2 × 10 km double pursuit, 19th place sprint freestyle, 23rd place 50 km freestyle
• 2005 Oberstdorf : 28th place 30 km pursuit, 34th place 15 km freestyle
• 2007 Sapporo : 13th place 30 km pursuit, 15th place 50 km classic mass start, 19th place 15 km freestyle
• 2009 Liberec : 6th place 50 km freestyle mass start, 31st place 30 km pursuit

Placements in the World Cup

World Cup Statistics

The table shows the placements achieved in detail.

• 1st – 3rd place: Number of podium placements
• Top 10: Number of places in the top ten
• Points ranks: Number of placements within the point ranks
• Starts: Number of races run in the respective discipline
• Note: In the distance races, the classification is based on the FIS.

placement	Distance races a					Skiathlon pursuit	sprint	Stage race b	total	Team c
	≤ 5 km	≤ 10 km	≤ 15 km	≤ 30 km	> 30 km					sprint	Season
1st place		1			1	1			3		2
2nd place			3	2		1	1	1	8th	3	3
3rd place		1	1	1		3			6th	2	4th
Top 10		5	23	10	4th	14th	9	2	67	7th	16
Scoring	1	13	49	19th	6th	17th	20th	4th	129	8th	16
Starts	1	24	66	26th	10	21st	34	5	187	8th	16
Status: end of career

^a including individual starts and mass starts according to FIS classification

^bEntire race, not individual stages, e.g. B. Tour de Ski, Nordic Opening, season finale

^c Possibly incomplete due to a lack of suitable sources before 2001

World Cup overall placements

season	total		distance		sprint
	Points	space	Points	space	Points	space
1995/96	38	43.	-	-	-	-
1996/97	58	40.	5	57. 1	49	29
1997/98	32	46.	9	51. 1	23	44.
1998/99			-	-	24	62.
1999/2000	310	13.	42 171	28 1 15 2	97	14th
2000/01	384	6th	-	-	135	14th
2001/02	131	36.	-	-	25th	46.
2002/03	589	2.	-	-	195	10.
2003/04	956	1.	902	1.	54	31.
2004/05	374	5.	374	4th	-	-
2005/06	267	17th	267	9.	-	-
2006/07	269	17th	194	12.	11	68.
2007/08	829	2.	494	3.	15th	81.
2008/09	97	61.	77	43.	-	-
2009/10	459	12.	281	12.	18th	71.

¹ Long distance world cup

² Middle distance world cup

Awards

• Election to Skikönig of the Year for the 2003-04 season by international sports journalists in the Forum Nordicum
• 2003 and 2004 Saxony's athlete of the year
• 2004 second place in the election for Germany's athlete of the year
• four-time winner of the Golden Ski in the men's cross-country skiing category

Web links

• René Sommerfeldt in the database of the International Ski Association (English)
• René Sommerfeldt in the database of the Visma Ski Classics (English)
• René Sommerfeldt in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Profile at XC-Ski

Individual evidence

1. ↑ René Sommerfeldt. oberlausitz.com, accessed on April 8, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Success lets you forget homesickness. (No longer available online.) Xc-ski.de, March 21, 2004, archived from the original on April 9, 2014 ; Retrieved January 4, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Athlete profile Tristan Sommerfeldt
4. ^ First cross-country medal for Germany since 1974. spiegel.de, February 25, 2001, accessed on January 4, 2008 . 
5. ^ Horror in Finland. spiegel.de, February 26, 2001, accessed January 4, 2008 . 
6. ↑ Cross-country medal for Germany. spiegel.de, February 17, 2002, accessed January 31, 2008 . 
7. ↑ Sommerfeldt celebrates first World Cup victory. Abendblatt.de, January 6, 2003, accessed on January 29, 2008 . 
8. ↑ Teichmann sprints to the silver relay. handelsblatt.com, February 25, 2003, accessed December 29, 2008 . 
9. ↑ Sommerfeldt crowns the season finale with second place. handelsblatt.com, March 14, 2004, accessed December 29, 2008 . 
10. ↑ Behle's cross-country skiers are currently ahead of the competition. faz.com, November 22, 2004, accessed December 29, 2008 . 
11. ↑ Sommerfeldt does not return. (No longer available online.) Rp-online.com, February 25, 2005, formerly in the original ; Retrieved December 29, 2008 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
12. ↑ Nothing but convulsions. berlinonline.com, February 13, 2006, accessed December 29, 2008 . 
13. ↑ 12th sports report of the Federal Government of September 3, 2010 to the Bundestag - printed matter VI / 2152 - p. 67, "[...] the handing over of the silver laurel leaf to the medalists of the Olympic Games and the Parlympics of Turin took place on April 26, 2006 [...] "
14. ↑ German men's relay wins silver. stern.com, February 19, 2006, accessed December 29, 2008 . 
15. ↑ Sommerfeldt sorted out by Behle. focus.com, March 1, 2007, accessed December 29, 2008 . 
16. ↑ Sommerfeldt storms into second place in the Tour de Ski. welt.com, January 6, 2008, accessed January 29, 2009 . 
17. ↑ Tour de Ski interviewed second Rene Sommerfeldt. live-wintersport.com, November 14, 2008, accessed January 29, 2009 . 
18. ↑ Sommerfeldt takes a break. sat1.de, December 3, 2008, accessed April 8, 2014 . 
19. ^ Tour-out for René Sommerfeldt. sportal.de, December 31, 2008, accessed April 8, 2014 . 
20. ↑ All-clear from Sommerfeldt: no torn ligament. suedkurier.de, January 24, 2009, archived from the original on April 9, 2014 ; Retrieved April 8, 2014 . 
21. ↑ Rene Sommerfeldt retires at the end of the season. handelsblatt.com, March 16, 2010, accessed December 16, 2010 . 
22. ↑ Ski king Rene Sommerfeldt. (No longer available online.) Xc-ski.de, April 3, 2004, archived from the original on May 3, 2014 ; Retrieved February 1, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
23. ↑ Saxony's “Sportsman of the Year” of all time. (No longer available online.) Sport-fuer-sachsen.de, archived from the original on September 18, 2008 ; Retrieved February 1, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
24. ↑ Sportsman of the Year: Schumacher, Birgit Fischer, Hockey Women. faz.net, December 20, 2004, accessed February 1, 2009 . 
25. ↑ Nystad and Sommerfeldt honored with Golden Ski. (No longer available online.) Xs-ski.com, October 6, 2008, archived from the original on April 9, 2014 ; Retrieved February 1, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.