Ronny Ackermann

Ronny Ackermann started as a cross-country skier at the age of five but switched to Nordic Combined in 1984. For more than five years Ackermann led the German Nordic combined team back to the world supremacy. In 2002-03 and 2007 he was the overall World Cup Winner, and in 2002-03 and 2008 he won the seasonal sprint World Cup. At the 2005 World Championships in his hometown of Oberhof, Ackermann won two gold medals and one silver.

Ackermann won three Olympic silver medals, winning the sprint competition and team relay in 2002, and the team relay in 2006. In 2007, Ackermann became the first Nordic combined skier to win three consecutive World Championships, all in the 15 km. He struggled early in the 2009-10 season and elected not to compete further, abandoning any chance of competing at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. During his career Ackermann won 10 World Championship medals, including four golds. He also collected six German national titles.

In 2005 Ackermann was elected Sportsman of the Year, and was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sports award, in 2006, having won the famous Holmenkollen medal in 2003. Ackermann later turned to coaching and became national trainer on the Nordic combined staff under the chief national coach Hermann Weinbuch at the German Ski Association from 2011-20 with responsibility for ski jumping.