Sailing head coach leaves the ship shortly before the Olympics
Germany's top sailors are starting the new year without their head coach. After seven years working with the German Sailing Team, Brit Marcus Lynch is moving to the USA just a few months before the Olympics. The change comes as a surprise not only to the association.
DSV head coach Marcus Lynch is surprisingly moving to US Sailing just a few months before the 2024 Olympics. The Briton is taking over the position of Director of Competitive Sports with a view to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. The German Sailing Team of the German Sailing Association (DSV) will therefore enter the final preparations for the 2024 competitions in Marseille without Lynch.
As the American Sailing Association announced, the Briton will lead the US Olympic sailing team onto the home straight towards Marseille as the new "High Performance Director" after the turn of the year. Lynch had previously terminated his contract with the DSV. "We enjoyed working with him," said DSV sports director Nadine Stegenwalner. The separation will now be handled "professionally".
Lynch, officially still the acting "Olympic Performance Manager" at the DSV, had individually coached the Olympic bronze medallists Paul Kohlhoff and foresailor Alica Stuhlemmer for seven years. The Nacra 17 duo from the Kiel Yacht Club are also considered medal contenders at the upcoming Summer Games. They won bronze together in Tokyo in 2021, and the German sailing team won a total of three medals in Japan in 2021.
Lynch's departure came as a surprise not only to the association, but also to the athletes. "The news about Marcus came as a shock to us on November 30," said Kohlhoff: "We had an almost familial relationship. This separation was unthinkable for us."
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The departure of Marcus Lynch, DSV's sailing head coach, has left Germany's top sailors in a tricky situation as they approach the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris. With only a few months left before the competition, Lynch has opted to take over the position of Director of Competitive Sports with USA Sailing, with a focus on the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Source: www.ntv.de
