Claudia Künzel-Nystad

Claudia Nystad is a sport soldier at the German Bundeswehr who is married to Norwegian cross-country skier Trond Nystad, a cross-country coach (up to 2006 with the US national team, then one year for Germany at Oberhof, and beginning in 2007 with the Swiss sprint team). With Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle Nystad is the most successful German female country-cross skier of the 21st century. Her list of podiums is impressive: gold medal in the relay at the 2003 World Championships 2003, and silvers in 2007 and 2009. She also won a silver at the 2003 world sprint competition and the 2007 world team sprint, along with Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle. She was also partnered with her at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics when they won the team sprint gold medal. In the relay she won gold at Salt Lake City in 2002– which was the greatest German female cross-country moment in 22 years – and silver in 2006 and 2010 as well as the sprint silver at Torino.

Beside her sports career Claudia Nystad is a painter, having already done several exhibitions with her charcoal drawings, and has also studied graphics and design. In the summer of 2007 she sold her 2002 relay gold medal at auction for 22,000 Euros on behalf of “Hänsel und Gretel,” which is a foundation helping abused children. The medal was purchased by the Russian Olympic Museum at Smolensk where it is now exhibited.