Germany's Paul Krenz has announced his retirement from bobsleigh and has taken up racing enduro bikes instead ©Getty Images

German bobsledder Paul Krenz has announced his retirement at the age of 31 and now plans to to pursue a career racing enduro bikes in motocross.

Krenz took to the bikes last year after injury kept him out of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

An officer in the German Police, he had been a judoka before trying bobsled 10 years ago.

He took up bobsleigh in 2014 and won two man silver at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Junior Championships in 2015 and followed this up with bronze in 2016.

He won a further silver in the four man.

Germany's bobsled brakeman and pusher Paul Krenz has now taken up Enduro moto cross racing ©Red Bull Romaniacs
Germany's bobsled brakeman and pusher Paul Krenz has now taken up Enduro moto cross racing ©Red Bull Romaniacs

In the senior ranks he was brakeman and pusher for Nico Walther's two man bob.

Together they won IBSF World Championship bronze medal at Whistler in 2019.

In 2020, Krenz raced in Walther’s four man crew in the IBSF World Championships at Altenberg.

They led the competition at the half way point, but slipped back to bronze as the as the almost invincible Francesco Friedrich came through to lead a German clean sweep of the medals.

After Walther’s retirement Krenz switched to Richard Oelsner’s crew before Oelsner was injured. 

Krenz's final races came a year ago in the two man, as brakeman for Olympic silver medallist Johannes Lochner.

Then last July, he completed the Red Bull Enduro Rallye in Sibiu in Romania, in a time of just over 23 hours.