Snowboard Cross coaches Harald Benselin and Jan Klemsa named 2020 Coaches of the Year

Snowboard Cross coaches Harald Benselin and Jan Klemsa have today been named as 2020 Snow Australia Coaches of the Year.

The pair were instrumental in Olympian Belle Brockhoff’s return to snow after the 27 year old was sidelined with an ACL injury.  She made a spectacular return during the 2019-2020 world cup season winning three bronze, one silver and one gold World Cup medals.

They also helped Cameron Bolton to multiple World Cup podiums throughout the season and worked with Adam Dickson who achieved his first World Cup podium in the final event of the season.

Benselin admitted it was one of the more satisfying seasons.

“Every time you go to a World Cup and at least one of the team members ends up on the podium is always a good surprise,” Benselin said.

“But it’s also a really good prize for all the hard work that they’ve been doing.”

Benselin said that it’s a great feeling to win alongside Klemsa, someone who he said he is lucky to not only consider a colleague but a friend.

“We understand each other really well, we love the sport, we love snowboarding and we’re both really passionate people,” Benselin said.

“Having Jan beside me is a big help and it’s (our partnership) is probably one of the biggest behind the scenes successes for us.”

Klemsa echoed Benselin’s comments, saying their ability to work together on coaches translates to the performance of their athletes.

“We’ve spent the last 9 months staying together, working together, so much time but I don’t think we’ve had any rough patches,” Klemsa said.

Snow Australia Chief Executive Officer, Michael Kennedy, said “In such a successful year for snow sports it was difficult to single out one coach or coaching team however it was hard to look past Harald and Jan given the spread of results by their athletes and the calculated role they played in facilitating Belle’s incredible comeback from injury.”

The next award to be presented as part of the 2020 Snow Australia Awards online celebration is the Outstanding Achievement Award tomorrow, Friday 8 May at 12pm.

Stay tuned to Snow Australia’s social media channels for more information.