Ken Tralnberg is back by popular demand as coach of the Mirjam Ott rink for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
The St. Albert resident rejoined the Swiss women’s curling team after his contract ended following the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
A phone call in the spring requesting his services got Tralnberg dialed up for Sochi.
“I was surprised and very happy,” he said. “I’ve taken this so serious that I retired from work (as the children’s advocate with the provincial government) just to commit to this.”
Tralnberg, 57, is going to his third Olympics; his second as a coach.
“I’m excited. I can’t wait.”
Tralnberg was the alternate for the Kevin Martin rink in 2002 as Canada lost the gold-medal game to Pal Trulsen of Norway in Salt Lake City.
His duties included scouting rocks and charting opposing rinks with Martin’s coach, Jules Owchar.
Canada’s oldest Olympian in 2002 at age 45 also threw two rocks for Martin in the sixth end in Canada’s 9-4 win over Finland.
In Vancouver, Tralnberg was the Swiss coach as Ott, third Carmen Schafer, Carmen Kung and lead Janine Greiner finished 6-3 in the round robin, but lost the semifinal 6-5 to Cheryl Bernard of Canada and the bronze-medal game 12-6 to Wang Bingyu of China.
“Mirjam felt she was under intense pressure to medal,” said Tralnberg of the expectations Ott shouldered from her country as a medal contender.
He is confident the Swiss will play to their potential at the Ice Cube Curling Center in Sochi for a podium finish.
“We’re not scared of anybody in the world.”
He noted there is more support staff for the Swiss curlers going to Sochi than at Vancouver.
“There was like eight people in some capacity for Canada in Vancouver and I was pretty much it (for the Swiss).”
At the 2011 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling in St. Albert, Ott explained how Tralnberg wound up as the Swiss coach for Vancouver.
“I met Ken at the Olympics in Salt Lake City and we kept in contact. Three years ago we came for a bonspiel to Edmonton and I asked Ken if he can help us for some practice. He showed up and it just worked out really well so we called him a team coach and brought him a couple of times to Europe, specifically to Switzerland,” Ott told the Gazette. “Ken was really great. He helped us a lot. It was a good thing to work with him.”
Ott, 41, is an Olympic silver medallist with Luzia Ebnother’s rink in 2002 and as the Swiss skip in 2006 in Turin, Italy.
In seven appearances at worlds, Ott won the 2012 championship and was the 2008 bronze medallist.
She was also crowned the European champion in 1996 and with Tralnberg as the coach in 2008.
A busy World Curling Tour scheduled this year for the Davos foursome included stops at the Shorty Jenkins Classic in Brockville, Ont. (beat Rachel Homan of Ottawa in the final), Vernon (lost the final to Wang), Women’s Masters at Basel, Switzerland (lost the final to Silvana Tirinzoni’s Swiss rink) and Masters of Curling in Abbotsford (lost semifinal to Homan).
On tap next is the European championship, starting Friday in Norway. Last year Ott finished 6-3 in Karlstad, Sweden.
Tralnberg will continue to follow every delivery by the Swiss on the road to Sochi.
“I lay awake at night, win or lose, thinking about the game they played.”
