Bobsleigh push athlete Jannis Bäcker, right, has called time on his career ©IBSF

Bobsleigh push athlete Jannis Bäcker has called time on his career, the German Bobsleigh and Sled Sports Federation has announced.

Bäcker started his career in 2009 in the team of Francesco Friedrich and helped his pilot win the second of nine World Championship titles.

That came in 2013 when the duo claimed the two-man gold medal in St. Moritz in Switzerland.

"He coached our new push athletes with great expertise and taught them to improve the technique, so Candy Bauer and Martin Grothkopp have become extremely strong," Friedrich, the two-man and four-man gold medallist at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, said of Bäcker.

"He always had an open ear for everyone and was generally a fair sportsman."

Jannis Bäcker was a long-time team-mate of the hugely successful Francesco Friedrich ©Getty Images
Jannis Bäcker was a long-time team-mate of the hugely successful Francesco Friedrich ©Getty Images

Bäcker competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics Sochi in the two-man and four-man events, but did not secure a medal.

He had his last competition with Friedrich at their home International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Cup in Winterberg in December 2018, when they ranked second in the four-man event alongside Alexander Schueller and Grothkopp.

They finished behind another German quartet made up of Nico Walther, Paul Krenz, Alexander Roediger and Eric Franke.

Three days after the event, Bäcker's daughter Lina was born. 

The 34-year-old will stay in the sports world as a teacher at the Bundeswehr Sports School in Warendorf.