Ermanno Nogler

Ermanno Nogler began to compete at 14-years-old on Sundays while he worked as a hairdresser’s apprentice during the week. During the war he was in France, Greece, and Finland where he met many cross-country skiers but Nogler always preferred Alpine skiing. In his career Nogler had bad luck with many injuries. These included 1951 at Megéve, where he broke his leg, and in his only Olympic participation, at Oslo in 1952, his disappointing first slalom run did not qualify him for the second race.

After his retirement from competition, Nogler became a coach, training athletes such as Carlo Senoner, world champion in slalom in Portillo 1966. He was also noted for his eye for talent, selecting other big Italian skiers like Marcello Varallo, Giuliano Besson, Stefano Anzi, and above all, Gustavo Thoeni.

In 1968 Nogler moved to the Swedish National team and discovered the big potential of a 13-year-old boy named Ingemar Stenmark. The Swedish champion and the Italian coach partnered for his entire career. In 1989, when Stenmark retired, Nogler also stopped coaching.