Bengt Walden joins US coaching staff

Lake Placid (RWH)  Four-time Olympian Bengt Walden has joined the US coaching staff with immediate effect. Athletic trainer Matt Oakes also joined the squad at the same time, as reported in a press release issued by the US federation (USLA) in Lake Placid. The US team achieved a record number of 18 podium finishes last winter.

Bengt Walden competed for his native Sweden in three Winter Olympics (1998, 2002 and 2006) before becoming an American citizen following his marriage to Ashley Hayden (a 2002 Olympian) and going on to compete for the USA at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. The now 43-year-old finished sixth at the World Championships in Lake Placid back in 2009. Bengt Walden’s most recent post was as a coach for the Norwegian federation.