At the first Bergkranzfest of the season on the Stoos, the Bernese are unstoppable. Led by the outstanding Fabian Staudenmann, they made the Central Swiss bleed - literally.
10.06.2025, 08:53
SDA
No time? blue Sport summarizes for you
- Fabian Staudenmann wins the Stoos-Schwinget in superior style.
- Nevertheless, the Bernese remains humble. "The next time we meet, everything starts from scratch again," he says after his victory in Central Switzerland.
- The Central Swiss must improve for the Swiss Wrestling Festival in Mollis if they want to have a say in the title of king.
Not so long ago, the Bernese wrestlers gave their competitors a lesson. At the Swiss jubilee wrestling festival in Appenzell last September, the "Mutzen" celebrated a co-victory with Fabian Staudenmann and surprise winner Fabio Hiltbrunner. Seven Bernese were ranked in the top eight. Only Armon Orlik from Graubünden prevented an even more disastrous result for the competition.
Bern's dominance continues
Nine months have passed since then. Nothing has changed in terms of the supremacy of Swiss wrestling. In the absence of the north-eastern Swiss, the guests from Bern dominated the first mountain wrestling festival of the season on the Stoos at will. In the end, three Bernese wrestlers - the superior winner Fabian Staudenmann, final round participant Adrian Walther and Mathias Aeschbacher - are once again at the top of the rankings. Lukas Bissig from Uri and Kilian Bühler from Lucerne are the best of the Central Swiss group in joint 4th place.
"I'm very happy with the day. What stands out for me is the consistency," said festival winner Staudenmann. "There were some rounds that lasted several minutes. And I also found a recipe in those. I'll take that with me."
Not good news for the competition, who reduced Staudenmann and Walther to extras on Whit Monday. After the demonstration of power, however, Staudenmann wanted nothing to do with the Bern Festival. Instead, he spoke of the Central Swiss team's bad luck with injuries and of major absences. "The next time we meet, everything will start from scratch again," he said confidently.
The question marks for the Central Swiss
Of course, with wrestling king Joel Wicki, who was absent due to injury and who has already triumphed four times on Stoos, the biggest Central Swiss trump card was missing. In addition, Marcel Bieri, one of the remaining top contenders, was knocked out in the first round against Walther - the eventual finalist hit the Zug native in the face with his elbow without meaning to. The result was a bloody nose and the end of the match for the winner of the Schwyz cantonal tournament. It was to be a symbol of the Central Swiss ambitions that went down the drain on this Whit Monday.
After Bieri's retirement and Joel Ambühl's defeat at the start, all the pressure from Central Switzerland was on Pirmin Reichmuth's shoulders. Certainly, the Zug native has a broad back. And on a good day he can also shoulder this. However, the winner of the Lucerne Cantonal Championships was already unable to find a solution against Matthias Aeschbacher in the first round. In the end, Staudenmann dashed all hopes of a final round appearance in Central Switzerland with his demonstration of power in the fourth round, when Reichmuth was lucky enough to fend off the first attacks of the best wrestler of the past two years, but ultimately had to concede the strength of his opponent.
The north-east Swiss are longing for the title of king
It is clear that the Central Swiss will have to improve considerably if they want to have a say in the title of king at the season's highlight in Mollis. However, the north-eastern Swiss are more likely than them to be in contention to succeed Wicki. The NOSV has been waiting for the title of king since 2007 - an eternity. Samuel Giger, Werner Schlegel & Co. showed their strength last year - naturally - on the Stoos, when they, like the Bernese this year, decided the festival victory among themselves.
The north-eastern Swiss and the Bernese will meet at Schwarzsee (June 22), Weissenstein (July 19) and Northwestern Switzerland (August 10). However, either Staudenmann will be missing on one side or Giger on the other. So only the Swiss Federal Championships in Mollis will shed light on the true balance of power in Swiss wrestling.
