Maze settles on new coach for the 2014-15 season

Slovenian Tina Maze at 2014 World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide. GEPA/Christian Walgram

Double Olympic gold medalist and 2013 overall World Cup champion Tina Maze announced in a press conference Friday (May 23) that she has added Italian coach Valerio Ghirardi to her team for the 2014-15 season.

Ghirardi, who previously worked with speed skier Isolde Kostner before leading the Italian women’s team at the 2006 Olympics, also privately coached Carolina Ruiz Castillo of Spain. Maze competes independently from the Slovenian ski federation, and Ghirardi will be added to the coaching staff of Team to aMaze, led by her boyfriend Andrea Massi. He replaces Mauro Pini who took over in January after Maze fired coach Walter Ronconi following a disappointing early half of the season.

Ghirardi signed a one-year contract with Team to aMaze. He is the third coach to assume the role since Livio Magoni left at the end of the 2012-13 season for a position with the Italian women’s team.