The Canadian is a two-time world champion and won a silver medal in men's skeleton at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

"Jeff is an absolute dream solution," said Christian Auer, ÖBSV sports director.

"And we are overjoyed that we were able to win such a man for our association.

"He had inquiries from all over the world, but decided on us.

"With him we not only get a coach who works a lot in the mental field, but also an absolute specialist in technical work and runner material.

"We want to build a strong skeleton team by the Olympic Games in 2026.

"Jeff should continue to shape our young athletes in a positive way."

Auer also stated that there will be collaborations with several smaller nations which will also be able to benefit from Pain's expertise.

An agreement has been made with the Swedish Sliding Sports Federation for Pain to work with its youth athletes.

"I am happy to be here and to be able to help Austria," Pain said.

"We will create the opportunities to form a strong team.

"I didn't want to miss this opportunity.

"Contact with Christian was intensified during the summer after we had loose talks during the previous season."

Pain's contract runs until the end of this season but is expected to be extended after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Walter Stern was Austria's las head coach.

In 2015, Pain was appointed as a coach of the Chinese skeleton team and helped the next Winter Olympic host nation prepare for the Games for almost four years, before leaving in 2019.

Austria has won just one Olympic medal in skeleton, when Martin Rettl took silver at the Salt Lake City 2002 Games.