Swinging Outstanding King Wicki wins the Central Swiss - Walther the best at the Emmental

Joel Wicki returns to the wrestling arena after his knee injury - and how. He takes victory at the Innerschweizer in outstanding style. Adrian Walther wins the Emmental festival.

Joel Wicki is back - and in royal style. His knee cooperates after a six-week break from competition and he pushes opponent after opponent into the sawdust.

At the start of the swing, he bumps off none other than NOS winner Werner Schlegel. Four more victories with the maximum score follow. Before the final round, he is at the top of the rankings with a score of 50 points.

The dominance of the wrestling king allows him to take a wait-and-see approach in the final round against Pirmin Reichmuth. Wicki only needs to win the final round with a set gait, while Reichmuth is under pressure to make a move.

Reichmuth pulls, Wicki counters. "I didn't have to risk everything in the final round. But if there's a chance, Wicki will be there," says the man from Sörenberg after the fight. The 14-minute final round is entertaining. After around ten minutes, Wicki unleashes a spectacular counterattack and brings Reichmuth to the brink of defeat. At the end of the round, the backs of both top Central Swiss wrestlers are spared the sawdust. Wicki takes the victory.

Giger and Schlegel beaten

Among the defeated are the north-eastern Swiss guests Werner Schlegel and Samuel Giger. Schlegel loses the first two fights and is therefore out of the fight for victory early on. Giger also has to accept a setback in the morning.

The Thurgau colossus loses in the first round against final round participant Pirmin Reichmuth. He adds four wins and one defeat to his tally. He finishes the festival in fourth place.

Walther wins the Emmental

The best man at the Emmentalische is Adrian Walther. The top Bernese wrestler wins his first wreath festival of the season. He starts the day with a victory against returnee Fabio Hiltbrunner, who is anything but hidden at his first festival since September 2024 and also swings aggressively.

Walther wins a total of five fights. The duel against Matthias Aeschbacher, who wins his 100th wreath, ends in a draw. In the final round, Walther defeats the strong Michael Moser. Walther is "relieved" after his victory. "I really wanted to win today in my head." He got into a flow after winning the first round, which helped.

Walther was confident before the decisive fight against Moser. "For some reason I knew: I'll take him today." Walther praises the 19-year-old Moser highly and adds: "We are happy that Michu will be a Bernese at the end of August (at the Swiss Nationals in Mollis, ed.)."

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Joel Wicki wins the Innerschweizer

Noe Van Messel ends a strong day with a victory against Lukas Bissig. With a strong 58 points, he takes a top place - and the wreath.

Samuel Giger gets the maximum score against Roger Bürli.

Joel Wicki is the outstanding man in Seedorf. The wrestling king wins the Central Swiss tournament for the fourth time. He takes the final round against Pirmin Reichmuth and wins the festival.

Emmental: 100th wreath for Aeschbacher, Adrian Walther crowned festival winner

Fabio Hiltbrunner finds no recipe against Levin Neuenschwander. The returnee finishes his first festival since his victory at the Swiss Jubilee Swing Festival with a defeat. At the beginning of the day, Hiltbrunner was much more explosive than in the last round. Hiltbrunner kept jerking his shoulder. Due to a shoulder blister, Hiltbrunner had to postpone the start of his season until today.

Matthias Aeschbacher ends his wrestling day with the maximum score against Fabian Schärz.

The starting position for the final round is promising from a neutral point of view. Both Michael Moser and Adrian Walther need a win to secure victory in the final round. In the event of a defeat, Matthias Aeschbacher, who is making his 100th wreath today, would move up.

Adrian Walther is the better man in the final round and defeats Michael Moser. Walther lifts Moser up, marches with him to the edge of the square and unleashes a powerful short move just before the edge of the sawdust. The 2-meter man puts the 19-year-old Moser on his back in a follow-up press.

Top pairings in 6th gear

Emmental
Fabio Hiltbrunner - Levin Neuenschwander
Remo Hiltbrunner - Bernhard Kämpf
Matthias Aeschbacher - Fabian Schärz
Michael Moser - Adrian Walther (final round)

Central Switzerland
Joel Ambühl - Beat Suter
Patrick Betschart - Damian Egli
Lukas Bissig - Noe Van Messel
Marco Fankhauser - Christian Schuler
Roger Bürli - Samuel Giger
Joel Wicki - Pirmin Reichmuth (final round)

The intermediate rankings after five rounds

Central Switzerland

Emmental

5th round at the Emmental: Moser and Walther in the final round

Fabio Hiltbrunner loses his fifth round - so his participation in the final round is also history. Meanwhile, Michael Moser bags his ticket for the final round. After scoring maximum points against Elias Pirkheim, he faces Adrian Walther in the last fight of the day, who kills Martin Sommer with a ten.

5th round in Central Switzerland: Giger decisively tied back, Reichmuth and Wicki in the final round

Samuel Schwyzer has to unpack his stomach muscles against Samuel Giger. Schwyzer already appears to be beaten, but with stability from the torso he is spared the sawdust with his shoulder blades. Giger swings with versatility. Short over the right, short over the left, wyber hook - Giger possibly finds the right move at the very end, but before Giger can push Schwyzer into the sawdust, the duration of the move is over. Deposed. Giger is rewarded with a nine. However, victory is now out of reach.

Pirmin Reichmuth is in the final round. He manages a lightning victory against Urs Doppmann with a 9.75.

King Joel Wicki also clears the last hurdle on his way to the final round. He takes on Fabian Scherrer and wins after completing his ground work. The judges award him the maximum score. Wicki finishes with 50 points - all he needs to win the final round is a single face down.

Werner Schlegel wins his second fight against Jonas Durrer.

The top pairings in the 5th round

Central Switzerland
Werner Schlegel - Jonas Durrer
Samuel Giger - Samuel Schwyzer
Joel Ambühl - Lukas von Euw
Lukas Bissig - Sven Schurtenberger
Urs Doppmann - Pirmin Reichmuth
Fabian Scherrer - Joel Wicki

Emmental
Martin Sommer - Adrian Walther
Fabio Hiltbrunner - Fabian Schärz
Matthias Aeschbacher - David Lüthi
Fabian Aebersold - Bernhard Kämpf
Fritz Ramseier - Lukas Renfer

The intermediate rankings after four rounds

Emmental

Central Swiss

4th course at the Emmental: Moser and Hiltbrunner in the lead

Michael Moser and Fabio Hiltbrunner win their fights with a flat throw and hoist themselves to the top. A quarter of a point behind them are five wrestlers, including Adrian Walhter and Matthias Aeschbacher. The battle for the final round remains exciting.

4th round in Central Switzerland: Giger wins flat, Wicki continues with maximum points

What a demonstration of power from Samuel Giger against the impressive Noe Van Messel today. Giger wins flat after a Wyberhaken and brings himself back into the race for a top position.

Two moves from Pirmin Reichmuth and Andreas Döbeli is on his back. Maximum score.

Joel Wicki has 30 points in his account after three rounds. More is not possible. It takes a while before the fight against Jonas Burch begins. Wicki waits by the fountain, there is no sign of Burch. The wrestling king's association colleague arrives a little late and the fight begins. Wicki moves in, Burch counters, Wicki counters back and gets the next ten. Wicki is in such good form.

Pairings from the 4th round

Central Switzerland
Werner Schlegel - Carlo von Rickenbach
Joel Ambühl - Philipp Roth
Samuel Giger - Noe Van Messel
Andreas Döbeli - Pirmin Reichmuth
Jonas Burch - Joel Wicki

Emmental
Fabio Hiltbrunner - Dario Schafroth
Dominik Binggeli - Michael Moser
Adrian Walther - Lars Zaugg
Matthias Aeschbacher - Jan Wittwer

3rd round at the Emmentalischen: A face-off between Walther and Aeschbacher

The absolute top pairing takes place in Langnau before midday. Adrian Walther faces Matthias Aeschbacher. The match ends in a stalemate.

Fabio Hiltbrunner takes his second victory against Nicolas Zimmermann, as does Michael Moser against Levin Rüfenacht.

3rd round at the Innerschweizer: Giger with a lightning victory, Wicki with maximum points

Samuel Giger throws Christian Zemp on his back in the first move. Zemp writhes in pain, Giger immediately signals: the paramedics must come. Replays show Zemp falling on his arm and buckling badly with his elbow. Giger remains at Zemp's side while he is attended to and carries the player from central Switzerland off the pitch on a stretcher. There is applause from the stands for the gesture.

Reichmuth takes his third win against Voggensperger. He is credited with a 9.75.

Joel Wicki swings as strong as a bear. The wrestling king also gets the maximum score against Matthias Herger. Wicki is in the lead at half-time with the maximum number of points.

Werner Schlegel reacts to his defeat in the first round and pushes Stefan Ettlin flat into the sawdust.

The pairings from the 3rd round

Central Switzerland
Samuel Giger - Christian Zemp
Pirmin Reichmuth - Lars Voggensperger
Patrick Betschart - Jonas Burch
Matthias Herger - Joel Wicki
Roger Bürli - Noe Van Messel
Stefan Ettlin - Werner Schlegel

Emmental
Matthias Aeschbacher - Adrian Walther
Christian Gerber - Alex Schär
Fabio Hiltbrunner - Nicolas Zimmermann
Michael Moser - Fritz Ramseier

2nd round at the Emmental

In Langnau, three wrestlers have the maximum number of points after two rounds. These are Mika Schüpbach, Fritz Ramseier and Swiss champion Matthias Aeschbacher. Favorite Adrian Walther lurks a quarter of a point behind the trio. Michael Moser does not manage more than a single defeat against David Lüthi.

2nd round in Central Switzerland: maximum score for Giger, next setback for Schlegel, Wicki with next 10

172 centimetres and 85 kilograms meet 194 centimetres and 125 kilograms. From the outside, the starting position between Nando Durrer and Samuel Giger seems clear. Giger is the heavy favorite. Durrer once again proves his tenacity. Giger shows patience and gets the maximum score around one and a half minutes before the end.

Against Werner Schlegel, Noe Van Messel swings for victory from the outset and wins with a ten. Schlegel is already badly tied back with two defeats.

Pirmin Reichmuth wins against Jonas Amrhyn with a lightning victory. The Swiss player scores a 9.75 in the first move. The judges decide against awarding a maximum score because Reichmuth had to push back slightly.

Joel Wicki makes short work of Alex Schuler. He consistently looks for the maximum score and gets it.

The pairings from the 2nd round

Central Switzerland
Nando Durrer - Samuel Giger
Andreas Döbeli - Romand Wandeler
Werner Schlegel - Noe Van Messel
Lario Kramer - Samuel Schwyzer
Jonas Burch - Patrick Scherrer
Jonas Amrhyn - Pirmin Reichmuth
Alex Schuler - Joel Wicki

Emmentalisches
Matthias Aeschbacher - Peter Beer
David Lüthi - Michael Moser
Stephan von Büren - Adrian Walther

1st round at the Emmentalisches: Moser confident - Walther wins against returnee Hiltbrunner

Matthias Aeschbacher gets the maximum score in the first round against Dominik Roth.

NOS winner Michael Moser grapples with the guest from north-eastern Switzerland, Christian Biäsch. After just under two minutes, Moser decisively brings Biäsch to the ground and wins with a follow-up press. Strong as a buck.

The crowd eagerly awaits the fight between returnee Fabio Hiltbrunner and Adrian Walther. Hiltbrunner is contesting his first fight since the end of September and gets off to a flying start. Walther is also active. After around four minutes, Walther brings Hiltbrunner to the brink of defeat, but the 19-year-old's back is not covered with enough sawdust for a valid result.

Hiltbrunner then has to go to the well. He has swallowed sawdust. A short time later, the match continues and Walther wins against comebacker Hiltbrunner in the second round.

1st round in Central Switzerland: Reichmuth defeats Giger, Wicki wins against Schlegel

All eyes in Seedorf are on the duels between the giants of Central Switzerland against the strong NOS wrestlers Samuel Giger and Werner Schlegel.

Pirmin Reichmuth grapples with Samuel Giger. Off they go. Giger moves, Reichmuth counters and it becomes dangerous. But the man from Thurgau is able to turn away. After that, the entertainment value flattens out before Giger unpacks his short after just under four minutes of action and heaves Reichmuth into the sawdust. The only flaw from Giger's point of view: Reichmuth does not land on his back. But Giger does just before the end of the round. Reichmuth wins in the follow-up press. The Zug native wins his first duel against Giger out of five fights so far.

The fight between Joel Wicki and Werner Schlegel also gets underway. After ten seconds, the arena gets loud for the first time. King Wicki is in attack mode, Schlegel fends him off. The two wrestlers then move on. "A great move", says Matthias Sempach in the SRF broadcast. And the fight remains great. After just under half the duration of the gait, King Wicki wins the highly attractive gait against Schlegel with the maximum score. A successful return after an absence of around six weeks.

Exciting duels during the first swing

Top pairings from Central Switzerland

• Joel Wicki - Werner Schlegel
• Pirmin Reichmuth - Samuel Giger
• Joel Ambühl - Andreas Döbeli
• Christian Schuler - Lars Voggensperger
• Sven Schurtenberger - Jonas Burch
• Marc Lustenberger - Lario Kramer
• Lukas Bissig - Philipp Roth
• Marco Reichmuth - Alex Schuler
• Matthias Herger - Adrian Klossner
• Noe Van Messel - Paul Tornare

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Top pairings from the Emmental Wrestling Festival

• Adrian Walther - Fabio Hiltbrunner
• Michael Moser - Christian Biäsch
• Matthias Aeschbacher - Dominik Roth
• Christian Gerber - Ruedi Roschi
• Bernhard Kämpf - Sandro Galli
• Thomas Sempach - Nicolas Zimmermann
• Severin Schwander - Lars Zaugg
• Patrick Schenk - Reto Thöni

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Hello ...

... and welcome to this Sunday's festival ticker. The Central Swiss Wrestling and Alpine Festival is taking place in Seedorf. In Langnau, the Bernese join forces at the Emmentalischen.

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