Farewell after three decades: Course director Detlef Kotlinsky retires
After more than three decades of service to winter sports, Detlef Kotlinsky is taking his well-deserved retirement at the end of the year. The 63-year-old from Gehlberg has shaped competitions and World Cups at the LOTTO Thüringen ARENA am Rennsteig for many years as course director.
The farewell could hardly have been better: three high-class World Cups at the LOTTO Thüringen ARENA am Rennsteig – biathlon, cross-country skiing, and Nordic combined – on perfectly groomed tracks and in perfect winter weather provided an emotional finale for track manager Detlef Kotlinsky. “It was a crowning finale,” says the 63-year-old. After more than three decades of service to winter sports, Kotlinsky is retiring at the end of the year.
As the facility manager of the LOTTO Thüringen ARENA am Rennsteig, Detlef Kotlinsky was one of the defining figures behind the scenes of major international events for many years. Biathlon and cross-country skiing World Cups as well as Nordic combined competitions bore his signature. “We've seen it all – from no snow at all to extreme amounts – and we've always managed to pull it off in consultation with the IBU and FIS. We often worked like crazy and pulled all-nighters,” Kotlinsky recalls.
It was precisely these challenges that made the work so appealing to him: finding solutions when others had long since reached their limits. “Under great pressure and stress, it was often a case of gritting your teeth and carrying on.”
Formerly an active cross-country skier himself
His professional career in Oberhof began in 1994 with the German Armed Forces. In the course of preparations for the 2004 Biathlon World Championships, the trained electrical engineer moved to the city in 2002 with the Federal Training Center. Today, he is employed by the Thuringian Winter Sports Center Oberhof.
After several years working at the ski jumps in the Rennsteig town, he finally took on the role of facility manager at the LOTTO Thüringen ARENA am Rennsteig. His responsibilities ranged from track and snow management, snowmaking and preparation to training and competition safety, as well as coordinating night-long operations with the snow groomer – mostly away from the public eye, but of central importance for sporting success.
However, winter sports had been a part of Detlef Kotlinsky's life long before he started working behind the scenes. As an active cross-country skier, he attended the children's and youth sports school from 1976 onwards, later competed for ASK Vorwärts Oberhof, and was temporarily part of the extended national team. After training as an electrical engineer, he remained loyal to competitive sports in various roles. After German reunification, his path eventually led him to the German Armed Forces as a civilian shooting range supervisor – the beginning of an exceptionally long and formative career in the organization and infrastructure team of Oberhof winter sports.
Unique diversity
And during this time, a lot has happened in Thuringia's winter sports stronghold. “Something really has developed here. When I see the trails today – the climbs, the descents – what Oberhof has to offer is unique.” Sometimes he still gets the itch: “When I see the tracks we've left in the evening, I want to strap on my skis again myself.” From the end of the year, he will have more time for that again. “I'll always be a fan.”