Pascal Müller from Glarus is the first Swiss combined athlete to compete at a World Championships in Trondheim for six years. His development is astonishing and also has to do with his cat.
01.03.2025, 18:43
SDA
It's been six years since a Swiss athlete competed at a World Championships in the former Swiss flagship discipline of Nordic combined, with Hippolyt Kempf's Olympic victory in 1988 as the highlight. The fact that Pascal Müller is following in Tim Hug's footsteps at the championships in Trondheim is a big surprise.
"When I look at where I was just a few months ago, I have to be satisfied with the result," said the 23-year-old from Glarus after finishing 32nd on his World Championship debut. Actually, the whole season was practically over back in the summer.
The ominous cracking in the knee
On October 3, Müller had to undergo surgery on his medial meniscus. "Fortunately, it could be stitched up and a piece didn't have to be cut out," says the Glarus native from Oberurnen. He had actually already damaged his knee in the summer when he slipped on a stone while jogging in the forest. "It cracked so funny," he remembers. It didn't seem too serious, the knee swelled up a little, but it got better again after a few weeks.
Then, on September 30, Müller was on his way to the vet with his cat when the animal jumped out of the carrier, as cats are wont to do. "I tried to catch it, made a move and it really cracked in my knee," he says. "I can still hear it now when I think about it, and I knew straight away that something was wrong."
In hindsight, however, the unruly cat turned out to be a small stroke of luck. The meniscus would probably have torn sooner or later either way. It would have been unthinkable if this had happened on the ski jump. "Only small forces were at work here." Müller was already back on cross-country skis on December 13, followed by his first jumps in the second half of January. This was enough for the last World Cup before the World Championships in Otepää in Estonia, where he achieved 32nd, 37th and 40th place. Although he missed the selection criteria, he was still selected for the World Championships.
Integrated into the German team
Due to the lack of Swiss teammates, Müller completes his training sessions within the strong German team. "Everything actually runs through them," explains the Swiss rider. "My planning, the material coordination, I'm actually an integral part of their team."
Müller can't quite understand why no one else in Switzerland competes in the combination at this level. It is precisely these two very different parts of the competition that fascinate him. "You need speed in one and endurance in the other." He is more of a jumper himself. On Saturday, he dropped back from 17th to 32nd place on the 7.5 km loop. That's why he reckons he has a better chance in the second World Championship competition in a week's time, when the jumps are from the large hill and the distances are a little greater. He has nothing left to lose anyway.
