Personal background:

I was born in 1979 in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. I spent the first four years of my life there. Afterwards, my family and I moved to my mother's hometown of Navis, Tyrol, where I still live. After elementary and secondary school, as well as attending a polytechnic, I completed an apprenticeship as an office administrator.

During my active time as a luge professional in the World Cup circuit, my employer and colleagues were very understanding of my sporting activity, and I was always given time off for the necessary vacation (which I needed for training and races) (I called it "Holiday on Ice").

Sporting career:

As a young boy, I was initially only enthusiastic about skiing and even participated in a few regional races. At that time, I wanted nothing to do with sledding. My sledding career took a turn for the better at the SV-Navis club championship in 1992. At the starting line, the wife of the then-chairman accidentally swapped her sled with mine. By the time I realized this mistake, she had already started, and I had no choice but to use her sled. With this perfectly prepared sled, I promptly won my class.

This success led me to luge, and from 1992 to 2000 I competed in national touring luge races (sports luge) in Austria. Since the German national team often trained in Navis, I was asked in the winter of 2000/01 if I would like to switch to racing luge. I gladly accepted this challenge and started competing for SCR Sport-Club-Riessersee (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany) in the very next season (2001/02). Based on my strong training performances, I was accepted into the German national team in December 2001 and made my World Cup debut on December 14, 2001.

In 2011, my partner Christian Wichan and I reached the pinnacle of my sporting career - we won the World Cup in Unterammergau (GER).

Furthermore, I became German champion 6 times in doubles and German champion 2 times in singles.