At a pre-season press conference in Prague, Ester Ledecká presented her new ski coaching team, led by the Austrians Karlheinz Pichler and Gernot Grasser.
Skier and snowboarder Ester Ledecká presented the line-up of her team for the coming season at a pre-season press conference in Prague on 7 October 2026. The head ski coach will be the Austrian Karlheinz Pichler, and the second coach will be his compatriot Gernot Grasser. The snowboard coach remains the American Justin Reiter.[1][2]
New ski coaches
Pichler is 57. He previously led the German team in which Emma Aicher and Kira Weidle-Winkelmann competed, and he also contributed to the greatest successes of the Liechtenstein skier Tina Weirather. Grasser is 44; he was most recently in charge of equipment service for the Austrian women's team in the World Cup, and before that he worked for eleven years with the Canadian men's national team.[1]
The team's ski technician will be the Slovenian Tadej Trdina, and its factory technician Tobias Geiger. Šimon Tomeš became physiotherapist and fitness coach.[1][2]
Changes after the last season
Ledecká had already announced changes in the team in April 2026, when the coaches Tomáš Bank and Franz Gamper left. According to her, a physiotherapist and a ski technician also left her over the past year. She discussed the new line-up with a manager of the Red Bull company.[1][2] Pichler said that at the end of March a Red Bull representative contacted him saying that Ledecká was looking for a new coach, and that he met her two days later.[1]
According to Ledecká, the cooperation has been running since spring, but the main part took place at a training camp in Chile, where the team members shared an apartment. "I am even surprised how well we clicked," said Ledecká.[1][2]
Equipment and the past season
Ledecká will ski on Head skis; in the previous season she used Kästle skis. She announced the switch in August 2026.[1] In the alpine skiing World Cup she finished seventeenth overall in the past season and fifth in the super-G standings. At the Olympic Games in Italy in February she won no medal in the super-G or in the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding.[1] According to Deník.cz, she was fifth in the parallel giant slalom and did not finish the super-G.[2]
In the coming season she is to compete both on skis and on a snowboard. According to Deník.cz, she starts the snowboard part earlier than the ski part.[2]
Related articles: Ester Ledecká, Gernot Grasser, Justin Reiter, Karlheinz Pichler
Chronology
- — Ester Ledecká announced at a press conference that her new skiing coaches for the upcoming season will be Austrians Karlheinz Pichler and Gernot Grasser, while Justin Reiter remains her snowboard coach. ČTK / České noviny iROZHLAS