Baden-Baden (RWH) René Spies has been honoured by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) as Coach of the Year 2022. The award was announced at the "Sportsman of the Year" gala in Baden-Baden on 18 December 2022. The German national bobsleigh coach was unable to accept in person due to the BMW IBSF World Cup taking place in the USA.
The protégés of René Spies, in office as national bobsleigh coach since 2016, had won three out of a possible four gold medals at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, plus three silver medals and one in bronze. At the 2018 Olympics, his athletes had won three golds and one silver.
René Spies' greatest success in his active career was winning the 2003 European Championship title in the 2-man bobsleigh on his home track in Winterberg (GER). His push athlete was Marco Jakobs, who completed his collection of titles after winning Olympic and World Championship gold with pilot Christoph Langen. With his regular pusher Franz Sagmeister, Spies also won the bronze medal in the 2-man bobsleigh at the 2003 Bobsleigh World Championships in Lake Placid (USA) in the same year.
One of his predecessors, Raimund Bethge, was named "Coach of the Year" by the DOSB in 2006.
