Germany hires ski coach Berthold from Austria

Associated Press

MUNICH (AP) — German's ski federation says it hired Mathias Berthold from the Austria men's Alpine team to be its men's head coach.

Under Berthold, Austria took two gold medals at the Sochi Olympics: Matthias Mayer won in downhill and Mario Matt got the slalom title.

Berthold will replace Charly Waibel, who has taken a different position within the organization said the German federation on Monday.

He previously coached the Germany women's team to win three Alpine golds at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Berthold's hiring follows a public spat between Germany and Austria team leaders last month at the season-ending World Cup Finals races in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

Germany's star Felix Neureuther was edged for the World Cup slalom title by Marcel Hirscher of Austria amid German claims of bad sportsmanship by the Austrians.