Soulard, Wagner to Lead Tech Programs
The U.S. Ski Team has named former Swedish Ski Team coach Rudi Soulard and former U.S. coach Trevor Wagner as new head men's and women's technical coaches respectively according to Alpine Director Jesse Hunt.
"Both Trevor and Rudi will add a lot to our program as we head into World Championships in France this year and the Vancouver Games next," said Hunt. "Their international experience and familiarity with the Team will complement our momentum."
Soulard, a native of France, has been working as a technical coach in Sweden for nearly 12 years. He brings to the Team an enormous amount of international ski racing experience from the Europa Cup level to the World Cup.
"Rudi is one of the best technical coaches in modern ski racing. He is very dynamic in terms of searching for new ways to ski faster," said Men's Alpine Head Coach Sasha Rearick. "I'm confident that he's going to bring some different perspectives and he'll fit in really well."
During Soulard's time in Sweden, his program directed a majority of the nation's best skiers and prompted a great increase of success in slalom. Among the most notable was the accomplishment of Jens Byggmark who finished the 2007 World Cup season third in slalom.
"He's really excited for the new challenge and for working with different athletes," Rearick said. "He believes that the American athletes have a lot of speed and he's excited to take them to the next level."
Wagner, a Seattle native, previously worked with the U.S. Ski Team from 1998 through 2006. He coached the Europa Cup tech team before becoming the women's Europa Cup head coach. He moved on to lead the World Cup team through the 2006 season, including Julia Mancuso's Olympic GS gold. Wagner started his coaching career with the Squaw Valley Ski Team where he worked with Olympic gold medalist Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) when she was coming up the pipeline.
"He maintains the consistency of the staff and we've had good success with him," said newly appointed Women's Head Coach Jim Tracy, who worked with Wagner for several years with the national team. "He has great experience at the international and World Cup level, including an Olympic giant slalom gold under his lead, plus he brings great energy and enthusiasm."
Soulard and Wagner start immediately as the Team begins annual Athletic Summit planning in Park City before the summer prep period begins.
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Soulard, Wagner to Lead Tech Programs
