Cross-country skiing: Ilja Tschernoussow is now a trainer in Liechtenstein
Cross-country hope Chernoussow
Ländle trainer instead of Olympic starters
There was hope that cross-country skiing hero Ilja Tschernoussow would also be able to run at world-class level as a Swiss. But now Selina Gasparin’s husband has completely reoriented himself.
Going to the Olympic Games as a married couple – this great dream remained unfulfilled in Beijing. Only biathlete Selina Gasparin (38) was at the start. Husband Ilja Tschernoussow (35), 2014 in Sochi for Russia bronze winner in cross-country skiing, was never able to impose himself for the Swiss World Cup squad after his naturalization in 2020.
Chernoussow was considered a new beacon of hope and could have been an option for the Swiss squadron. But last winter, in the middle of preparation, a shingles disease set him back a long way. The Beijing dream bursts before it could really become concrete.
Chernoussow is enthusiastic about it
Now not only Gasparin has opened a new chapter with her resignation. Also Chernousov. He is now a trainer for the small Liechtenstein cross-country skiing team.
There is a vacancy in the country at the end of May after the previous coach Karoline Moen Guidon (31) returned to her Norwegian homeland. The Liechtenstein Ski Association asked Tschernoussow. “And he was enthusiastic about it from the start,” says Nordic boss Thomas Brunhart to Blick.
Bärti Mannhart established the contact. The Liechtenstein cross-country head coach used to be a coach at Swiss Ski when Tschernoussow was one of Dario Cologna’s great rivals in his heyday.
Chernoussov has not resigned. Starts for Liechtenstein are out of the question. But the veteran from Lantsch GR still keeps fit, a start somewhere in winter is not excluded. Only the Olympics are no longer an issue.