The Italian winter sports federation FISI has presented the squad for the upcoming FIL World Cup in natural track luge. A position in the ranks of the coaches catches the eye.

New job for Gruber: He is part of the Italian coaching-staff 

Berchtesgaden (FIL/June 7th, 2023) Alex Gruber (ITA) ended his successful career in natural track luge at the finale in Umhausen (AUT) in February. The cherry on the cake was the gold medal at the World Championships in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA) early February. For Gruber it was the third world championship title in singles after Vata Dornei (ROU) 2017 and Latzfons/Lazfons (ITA) 2019. There had been speculation for a long time about the future of the overall World Cup winner 2021/2022, now it’s official: The 30-year-old returns to the World Cup as a coach. “I always wanted to remain in sports, therefor coaching was a shortcut and the italian federation asked me, if I would like to enter the coaching-staff. From my side it was obvios, that I had to switch immediately. One of my job will also be to help the smaller nations with the preparation of the equipment," says Gruber in a first statement.

For Alex Gruber it is the first job as coach, the South Tyrolean experienced his baptism of fire in the World Cup at the start in Kühtai (AUT) in mid-December.