The secret behind Audrey Werro’s rise

Christiane Berset Nuoffer has been coaching Audrey Werro since the age of nine, taking her from the fun of children’s training at the club to the highest level of international athletics. Their 13-year partnership provides a rare and valuable insight into the essence of an athlete’s long-term development, and the need for the coach to constantly develop with him.

“You shouldn’t pull all the levers of achievement too early”, this advice from Christiane Berset Nuoffer may sound unexpected given the remarkable successes of her pupil.

Audrey Werro was only nine years old when she first found herself in Christiane Berset Nuoffer’s children’s group among about 30 other children. The running, jumping and throwing classes were then organized in a broad direction, with an emphasis on play and the pleasure of movement.

Even then, however, the first signs of the girl’s extraordinary potential were visible. “She was fast and had great endurance”, recalls Christiane Berset Nuoffer. “She never showed signs of fatigue”.

Audrey Werro doesn’t show much enthusiasm for throwing a ball or a javelin, but she is distinguished by diligence, perseverance and undeniable athletic qualities. However, the coach is deliberately in no hurry to turn these talents into a strictly specialized 800-meter program.

Over the years, Audrey Werro has continued to compete in various disciplines. In parallel with running 600 and 1000 meters, she regularly jumps, throws and sprints. In 2021, when she won her first European title for girls under 20, she also improved the Swiss national record in the pentathlon for girls under 18.

“All these skills were built through a playful approach to keep the children engaged, motivated and with a keen interest in the sport”, explains Christiane Berset Nuoffer.

Today, Audrey Werro’s training is inevitably much more narrowly specialized. However, Christiane Berset Nuoffer rarely repeats exactly the same workout. She values ​​variety, new challenges and an element of unpredictability, which keep the process from becoming mechanical and monotonous.

This approach reflects her overall philosophy for developing athletes. “There is no single path to elite sport. Early talent must be managed extremely carefully to achieve optimal development in the long term”, the specialist points out.

The temptation with such a prominent young talent is usually to force the process at all costs. For Christiane Berset Nuoffer, however, some stages are better postponed. “You should not force all the reserves too early”, she emphasizes. “This is the only way to ensure sustainability and continuity in training over the years”.

The training process is far from the only thing that has undergone a transformation during these 13 years of working together. During Vero’s childhood, the coach saw herself primarily as a mentor and educator, whose task was to provide a framework, teach the child the basics, and guide him confidently into the world of athletics.

However, as she entered adolescence, a new strategy was needed.

“During puberty and maturation – a period of particular challenges for young athletes – I was completely committed to being extremely careful. I had to accurately assess how much I could demand without jeopardizing her overall well-being”, says Christiane Berset Nuoffer. Today, she describes their relationship as a true partnership between adults. “Her physical feedback and sensations are just as important as my technical expertise. Our communication is direct, based on complete transparency and trust”, added she.

This evolution is key for a tandem that started in early childhood. As experience increases, the athlete takes on more responsibility for their preparation, and the coach must be willing to relinquish some of the control.

Christiane Berset Nuoffer defines this change as a transition from the role of “teacher” to that of “strategic partner, supporting her independence”.

At the heart of this success is mutual trust, built not only with honesty and empathy, but also tempered in difficult moments. “Such trust is not born overnight”, she notes. “It is earned day after day – not only through shared victories, but also through difficult trials and moments of vulnerability”.

One of the most difficult periods for the tandem comes in 2024. In March, Vero suffers a hamstring injury, which instantly overturns the entire concept of the season. All efforts are focused on her rapid recovery in order to meet the standard for the Olympic Games in Paris. The athlete managed to win a quota for the French capital, but at the games themselves she failed to qualify for the 800 meters semifinals.

Despite the disappointment, Christiane Berset Nuoffer finds the positive side in what happened. “It was an extremely difficult year, but it taught us invaluable lessons”, the coach summarizes. “Going through these trials forced her to grow mentally, building the resilience and confidence that we clearly see on the track today”.

The moment when coach Christiane Berset Nuoffer realized that her protégé Vero had the qualities to reach the world elite came at the European Under-20 Championships in Tallinn in 2021. Just 17 years old, the young Swiss athlete won gold in the 800 meters in her first major international forum outside her homeland.

For her mentor, however, it was not just the gold medal that was most impressive, but the way in which it was won. “She seemed completely calm and confident in this environment, despite her age. That’s when I realized that she had that special detail that could take her to the very top”, shares Christiane Berset Nuoffer.

This inner composure is difficult to teach directly, but creating a safe and professional atmosphere is the main task of the specialist. In the period before major championships, Christiane Berset Nuoffer focuses on the practical aspects – training on the track, schedules and competition fitness. As the start itself approaches, priorities change.

“The closer the run itself gets, the more my role shifts to providing psychological support and instilling confidence when needed”, she notes. Currently, this care is entrusted to a wider team, including the athlete’s personal mental coach.

In the modern high-performance sports process, coaches have at their disposal a huge amount of data – from training loads and biomechanics to physiological indicators and recovery. Although she highly values ​​​​the scientific approach, Christiane believes that the difference between a good specialist and a simple planner lies in the invisible details.

“You have to be able to have a full dialogue and learn to ‘read between the lines’ to instantly understand whether the athlete is overtired or concerned about something off the track. My main priority is for the athlete to feel good, first and foremost, as a person in their everyday life”, explains the mentor.

Christiane Berset Nuoffer realizes that a coach should not try to solve every problem alone. Recognizing one’s own limits and involving external experts in sports psychology is key to an athlete’s overall growth. The desire for continuous improvement is a leading motive in her career. Although she has extensive experience in developing talents from adolescence to adulthood, she recently defended the highest qualification in Switzerland – the Federal Diploma of Higher Education for Coaches in Elite Sports.

The exchange of expertise between professionals is increasingly central to the strategy of European Athletics. There is a huge body of knowledge across countries, clubs and disciplines that needs to be shared freely, rather than being siloed into separate systems.

Initiatives such as the Coaching Summits and the Coaching Network Project aim to build bridges between established names and young professionals from all national federations.

:We can always learn a lot from our colleagues. The most important thing is to remain open to new concepts and not be afraid of innovative approaches. No coach has all the answers”, concludes Christiane Berset Nuoffer.

In the world of sport, professionals are often publicly judged solely through the prism of their athletes’ individual results. However, the most successful coaching models are rarely the work of a single person – they are based on collaboration, mutual trust and years of knowledge sharing.

European Athletics’ initiatives to exchange experiences and build professional contacts clearly emphasize that the creation of elite athletes requires continuous improvement of the coaches themselves throughout their careers.

The collaboration between Christiane Berset Nuoffer and Audrey Werro is an eloquent example of why coaching development should not stop with the appearance of the first serious results. Today’s athlete is very different from the nine-year-old child who first stepped into the gym. The requirements, the training process and the environment are now completely different, which requires the coach to change in parallel with them.

What remains intact over the years is continuity. Christian has been by Audrey Werro’s side since the period when she mastered the basics of running, jumping and throwing. She was inseparable from her when her performance in Tallinn suggested enormous potential for the future, as well as in the difficult moments of injuries and disappointments in 2024. The coaching presence continues today, with their relationship becoming increasingly partnership-like.

Thirteen years after the beginning of their journey together, both the athlete and her coach continue to grow together, maintaining remarkable stability and harmony in their work process.