Willi Schneider (skeleton pilot)

Willi Schneider at the 2014 Order of Friendship.

Wilfried "Willi" Schneider (born March 12, 1963 in Mediaș , Romania ) is a former German skeleton driver and current skeleton trainer. At the end of the 20th century, Schneider was one of the most successful skeleton athletes in the world.

Willi Schneider made his debut in January 1992 in a race in Königssee as 16th in the World Cup. In his third race in Cortina d'Ampezzo , he finished ninth in the top 10 for the first time. In the period that followed, Schneider was able to consolidate and improve its services. In December 1997 he won his first World Cup races in La Plagne and Winterberg . Schneider was able to win a total of four world cup races. He finished the 1993/94 season fourth in the overall World Cup, fifth in 1994/95, fourth again in 1995/96 and third in 1996/97. In the 1997/98 season he won the overall World Cup. In 1998/99 he was fourth again and sixth in 1999/2000.

In 1992 Schneider took part in world championships for the first time. In Calgary he reached the 14th place. A year later he already reached fifth place in La Plagne. In 1995 in Lillehammer and 1997 in Lake Placid he reached this place again. In 1998 Schneider won his first world championship title in St. Moritz . A year later in Altenberg he won bronze. In 2000 in Igls there was another good fifth place. The highlight of Schneider's career was participating in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , where skeleton was again Olympic for the first time since 1948. Schneider took ninth place here.

In 1992 Schneider won his first title at German championships. 1994 to 1997, 2000 and 2003 he was able to win the title nine times. In addition, he was runner-up behind Andy Böhme in 1998 and 1999 and came third in 2001.

After his active career, Willi Schneider became the coach of the Canadian national team. As a trainer, he was responsible for three medals at the Olympic Games in Turin. For the men for gold for Duff Gibson , silver for Jeff Pain and for the women for bronze for Mellisa Hollingsworth . With the exception of Duff Gibson, who ended his career after the Olympic Games, Schneider continues to look after the top Canadian athletes after the Games. At the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver , Jon Montgomery , who he mentored, won another gold. After Vancouver, Willi Schneider was able to work as a technology coach for the US skeleton team and won another world championship with Katie Uhlander. In the 2012/13 season Schneider moved to Russia as head coach and won the first world championship title for Russia with Alexander Tretyakov and the junior world championship title with Elena Nikitina for women. Immediately afterwards also with her the European title. In the 2013/14 Olympic year , Schneider’s athletes won gold and bronze at their home games with Alexander Tretyakov and Jelena Nikitina . Due to the success Schneider was the Order of Friendship awarded.

Web links

Commons : Willi Schneider  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Willi Schneider in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Profile on skeletonsport.com ( Memento from May 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive )