CALGARY – Alpine Canada unveiled plans for its new-look coaching staff Friday as it prepares for next season and the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
Massimo (Max) Carca, who helped lead the Italian ski team to multiple World Cup, world championship and Olympic titles, has been named head coach of the Canadian men’s alpine technical team. The 40-year-old Italian will focus on Canada’s slalom and giant slalom teams.
Former Swiss coach Martin Rufener — who was recently named Alpine Canada’s new alpine director — will also take on the role of head coach of the men’s team.
“Max is a coach who has had great success across all five disciplines and we’re very excited that he has agreed to join us,” said Paul Kristofic, Alpine Canada’s vice-president of sports. “He’s worked with athletes who have won World Cups, world championships and medals at the Olympic Games. With Martin also coming on board, we believe we have a very strong leadership team in place. We are nine months away from the Olympics and there’s reason to be optimistic and excited.
“We are also at a critical point in terms of needing to invest in development-level athletes. Historically, it takes five years in the national team system to develop racers who have the potential to podium at the World Cup level and it’s now time to start planning for 2018 and 2022.”
Carca has spent over a decade coaching top skiers like Christof Innerhofer, Dominik Paris, Manfred Moelgg, Peter Fill and Giuliano Razzoli. Carca began working with the Italian Ski Federation in 2002, became head coach of the World Cup slalom team in 2008 and has served as head coach of Italy’s World Cup speed and giant slalom teams since 2011.