Ski Classics Pro Team, Cibes Lift Ski-Willy Marathon Team, announced that they have created a new “Lead Performance Coach” position to take the next step toward greater professionalism. For this role, the team is turning to a woman who brings strong expertise and already knows the squad well.
With the words “Up to the next level. From now on, Luisa Grießbaum will assume the position of Lead Performance Coach at the Cibes Lift Ski-Willy Marathon Team,” the squad announced on Instagram that their Pro Team athlete will take on a new role within the team.
The 28-year-old, who has been a team member since the very beginning of her cross-country skiing career four years ago and has competed in 17 Pro events and 12 Challengers races for the team, is now taking on a new responsibility. ProXCskiing.com spoke with Grießbaum and Pro Team Director Peter Kiene about this decision.
Grießbaum, who is coming off a season marked by prolonged illness, describes her decision as follows:
“Last season I spent a lot of time at home in bed and had time to rethink my life and work. It was clear that I wanted to change something to challenge myself again. I had my job, and I had my hobby, cross-country skiing. And when one of them fell away, I felt extremely underchallenged,” she says and adds:
“In the past, I was used to being fully occupied, at times completing two degree programs simultaneously. Developing professionally has always been a top priority. So this was a logical next step in my professional career.”
Having first completed an engineering degree in biomechanics while training as a physiotherapist at the same time, Grießbaum only found her passion for coaching after some years of professional experience as a physiotherapist and biomechanist in elite sports, including at World Cup level.
“After additionally completing a master’s degree in sports science in Innsbruck and Oslo in 2024, I felt like I was standing still. During my studies in Oslo, I worked as a cross-country ski coach at Lyn Ski; afterward I moved back to Austria and took a position as a first female cross-country ski coach at a ski business school — a school designed to make combining elite sport and education possible.”
Grießbaum also spoke about significant cultural differences between the ski nations of Norway and Austria, and continued:
“Especially in youth elite sport, during my work in Austria I repeatedly witnessed how many athletes gradually lose the joy of training and competition, and how quickly performance suffers when mental health, appreciation, and good team dynamics are neglected. Far too often it’s considered normal to no longer enjoy going to training or spending time with your team. That made me incredibly sad. Especially after I experienced the junior system in Norway, how nice it can also work.”
For Grießbaum, this was the reason to found her own company, “joy of endurance” earlier this summer, with the slogan “because success begins where joy isn’t lost,” and she added:
“With my marathon team in Austria, the focus was never solely on performance, but above all, on the person behind it and the joy of moving together. I experienced the same feeling during my youth coaching at the Norwegian club Lyn Ski. With my company Joy of Endurance and my new role on the team, I want to continue and share exactly this path: the joy of endurance sports, the passion for development, and the belief that sustainable performance grows where people feel comfortable, are seen, and train with enthusiasm.”
Pro Team Director Peter Kiene said on the new announcement:
“Going forward, Lui will be responsible for performance diagnostics, performance monitoring, and, as needed, individualized training support. We still don’t have the resources of the big teams, but we are consistently working to further professionalize our team structure. Since almost all of us work full-time or study alongside cross-country skiing, it’s all the more important to use the limited time as effectively as possible to unlock everyone’s full potential,” he says and adds:
“With this newly created position, we can offer our athletes individualized and professional training support. Some already have a private coach; of course they can continue to work with them. But many of us don’t, and that’s where it can make an enormous difference to bring more structure and professionalism into training.”
Grießbaum is certain that she gained the most important knowledge during her own time as an athlete:
“It’s crucial to know exactly how certain intervals feel and what a high training volume does to your body. I’m incredibly grateful to the whole Vermeulen family, who went through highs and lows with me over the past two years during their coaching support. I’m also grateful to Trond Nystad, from whom my former athletes and I were able to learn a lot about cross-country skiing technique.”
Finally, Grießbaum is keen to draw attention to gender balance in coaching roles and appeals:
“Women in leadership coaching positions are still heavily underrepresented. My biggest goal as a female coach in Ski Classics is that I can inspire other women to believe in their strengths and take the step into a coaching career one day.”
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Author: Leandro Lutz
Photo: Manuela Döttelmayer
