The Swiss skiing federation on Tuesday replaced women's ski coach Hugues Ansermoz after they ended a lacklustre season by failing to win any Olympic medals in Vancouver.
Swiss-ski said in a statement that it wanted to breathe new life into the women's team for Sochi 2014 by bringing in Mauro Pini, former coach of injured young hope Lara Gut, and the Swiss men's team over the past year.
Ansermoz "managed to raise our women's skiers into the world elite in the speed disciplines and thanks to him we have several athletes who are touching on the podium," said competition chief Dierk Beisel.
"We came to the conclusion that to reach the highest level in the technical disciplines it was necessary to make changes to the staff," Beisel added.
Ansermoz, Canada's women's coach until 2006, had come under fire in the Swiss press since the blank sheet in the flagship sport in Vancouver last month, in contrast to the men's three medals and World Cup titles for Didier Cuche and Carlo Janka.
Ansermoz told the Swiss news agency ATS that he would mull over an offer of an alternative job with the Swiss team.
"I am very disappointed and surprised," he said.
"It's hard to accept. It's not as if the Swiss women's team was non-existent this year."
Gut, 18, the biggest hope, was sidelined from Vancouver by a dislocated hip she suffered last year, while Fabienne Suter fell narrowly short of an Olympic medal on three occasions with fourth, fifth and sixth place finishes.
Copyright 2010  AFP Global Edition
