PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Johannes Lukas reaps great success with Sweden.
Now the legendary Anna-Carin Zidek gives her honest view of him.
– It affects the team very much to have such a leader, she tells Sportbibeln and compares him to Wolfgang Pichler.
The Swedish biathlon hero Anna-Carin Zidek, formerly Olofsson, is one of our country’s foremost in the sport of all time. She became “ACO” with the entire Swedish people and won both Olympic gold and WC gold.
Zidek’s career
Zidek managed to win 15 world cup races and an overall victory in the distance cup during the successful era for Swedish biathlon. Together with the blue-yellow teammates Helena Ekholm, Bjorn Ferry and Carl-Johan Bergman formed a world-class national team, coached by iconic national team captains Wolfgang Pichler.
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Pichler was known for his hard-nosed style and pushing his riders to the limit to achieve success. After the 2018 Olympics, the German resigned and instead took his former intern and assistant John Luke over as the new national team captain.
Salute to Lukas
Since 2019, the 30-year-old has managed Pichler’s legacy in the best way and the latest Biathlon World Cup in 2023 was the best ever by a Swedish national team with a total of eleven medals. Anna-Carin Zidek is extremely impressed by Lukas’ progress as a coach.
– He has succeeded very well and he has really gained the trust of the riders. He has everything required and really does a great job, says “ACO” in an interview with Sportbibeln.
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The Swedish biathlon legend recognizes the coaching style and passion for the sport from his own days with Pichler.
– He is quite reminiscent of Wolfgang (Pichler) in his way of working, from what I have seen. The commitment and how enthusiastic he is, it affects the team a lot to have a leader like that, says Zidek.
READ MORE: Anna-Carin Zidek singles out the best Swedish biathlete on the women’s side right now – and nods Hanna Öberg: “Performed better”
Anna-Carin Zidek admits what it was really like to have demon coach Wolfgang Pichler.
– For me, his leadership style suited me very well and his training plan as well. It worked great for me. But it hasn’t suited everyone over the years and I can understand that. He is special. And you have to be able to take him the right way and take him with a pinch of salt, she says in the interview and talks about their relationship today.
– We don’t have much contact, just a little.
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