Q & A with Axel Teichmann
German National Team Member
January 25, 2008

Canmore World Cup Coverage Special to CrossCountrySkier.com

By Matt Muir, Cross Country Skier Magazine

How old are you?
I’m 28.

Where are you from?
I’m from Bad Lobenstein, East Thuringia.

Where do you live now?
I live in Oberhoff, since 1993.

Is that the center for German winter sports?
It’s almost the center. There are the three main centers for cross country skiing, Nordic combined, biathlon, and ski jumping. There are also some other training centers for alpine skiing.

Do you have a family, are you married?
I am not married but I have had a girlfriend for nine years.

How many years have you been on the German National Team?
I started in the spring of 1994 when I became a member of the lowest overall team in the German ski team system, at the age of 15 to 17. I became a member of the national team for men in 1999. That season I won two world championship titles and it opened the door for the national team.

When did you start skiing?
I started skiing in 1989 but first I did Nordic combined. That was at the age of 10 and it was too late to start re-training my body for ski jumping. I did not have good technique either. I used to leave the jump and go into an upright posture just like how I ski on cross country skis. That’s not the right way to do ski jumping. [Axel laughs and demonstrates with his hand how he would fly off a ski jump and go into an upright posture which exposed the entire front surface of his body to the moving air.] So I switched to cross country skiing in 1990.

When you began to develop talent, how did you continue with school?
I had to reach the minimum German school requirements, which take you to at least eighth grade and a big test. So, I would do all the same work and lessons as the other students in normal schools and each afternoon after school we started training at half past one or two. Normally one training session per day; sometimes two in the afternoon or do some work in the gym or play some football – stuff like that. After that we had to do our homework and then go to bed. Not much time for partying.

In the U.S., we have an academic-athletic system at the university level. So, unless one is an exceptional skier, that person usually goes to a university and pursues skiing as a student athlete. What is the system like in Germany?
I guess there’s a good system in Germany and in Italy too for example. You go through the army or customs or border police. You have to do some work, but it is designed so that there is a lot of time for training. It’s almost a perfect system.

Border Police, you have to do a little bit more, four or five years, and then you have the rest of your life for training and competition [on a modified schedule if need be]. The army is a little different. I am in the army. There you have to do about one month for the first three or four years and then that’s enough and you’re finished with that.

In my case, I am a sergeant or staff sergeant; I’m not sure what it would be called in English. Then, when you are done with your career as an athlete, you have three to five years for studying. You get a little less money from the army during that three to five year period after your career as an athlete but you have the chance to go to university and earn a degree. I guess that it’s kind-of a better system in Germany than in the U.S.

Does the national team support you or does the Army?
I am a member of the Army; I get my money and healthcare and stuff like that from the Army. The training camps and competitions are paid by the German Ski Federation. And the coaches are paid by the federation, too. And then I have one sponsor on my hat, Viessman [a German heating company which also sponsors the World Cup]. That’s my private sponsor so I get money from that company. There’s prize money and some money for good competitions as well – bonuses for good competitions. This is the system that normally exists in Germany.

What are your favorite competitions?
It depends a lot on my form. I like North America. I also like Oslo and Lillehammer. They are famous places where legends of cross country skiing were born. The crowd cheering you during competitions is amazing. They are good places to ski and you get the right response for the work you’ve done from spring through summer and autumn.

Briefly, what’s a typical training year for you?
Normally we start in the first week of May. We have about ten days of vacation at the end of July or beginning of August. Also, about four or five days of vacation at the end of September and then the rest is training until the end of March. About 10,000 to 11,000 kilometers by foot, rollerski, or ski. I don’t know exactly, but about 900 hours training per year. April is vacation too.

In your opinion, does the German team have a philosophy that has helped it have so much success?
Yes, in 1990 or so, they used to put the juniors in with the men’s team and they had to do the same like the men do, so not even the good juniors could handle this and after a few years of not being able to do this, you had to go get some other job.

When I was a junior, it was different. A new coach got the job as the head coach and we were quite successful juniors. We had skiers like, for example, Tobias Angerer, who is three years older than I am. We got the time to develop. We were not pushed that hard into the national team like the others before us. We had enough time to build up our training, physical, and mental strength. This was the right way. It needed about two or three years and the first success came out of our team.

We have quite a good team spirit. We have a good service team. We have trainers who train you the whole season. In 1990, it was different. You had your trainer at home and a different trainer at training camp from the ski federation. There was always a mixing of training philosophy that wasn’t good at all. The new way was good development for us and for the team.

How popular is cross country skiing in Germany?
Among winter sports, ski jumping, alpine skiing, and biathlon are the most popular sports and next after them is cross country skiing. There are 80 million Germans and about 6-10 million people watch alpine, ski jumping, and biathlon. Cross country skiing increased in the last few years from two to four million viewers. We are quite popular now in Germany since 2002, the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where the German women won the gold in the relay.

What’s a good vacation for you?
I like spending time with my friends and family; hopefully out in nature. I like rock climbing and bouldering. I don’t need the sun or the beach. I am not the kind of person who goes out at 9 am and lies on the beach for six hours.

Thank you and good luck Axel!
Thank you, you are welcome.