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Samuel Giger is one of the top favorites to win the Schwarzsee-Schwinget.
KEYSTONE
Samuel Giger could become the second wrestler ever to win all of the Bergkranz festivals at the Schwarzsee-Schwinget. But the competition is tough: Fabian Staudenmann is just one of many other top athletes.
Samuel Giger is back in excellent form. The top wrestler from Thurgau injured his shoulder in April, and at the beginning of June he put his opponents to the sword at the Stoos-Schwinget. A dominant victory on his comeback - Swiss wrestling fans were impressed.
Giger could achieve something historic at the Schwarzsee-Schwinget next Sunday. The wrestling festival in the canton of Fribourg is one of a total of six mountain wrestling festivals. Giger has already emerged victorious on the Brünig, the Rigi, the Schwägalp, the Stoss and the Weissenstein - one mountain festival triumph is still missing: the Schwarzee-Schwinget.
Neither Jörg Aberhalden nor Christian Stucki, for example, have managed the "mountain festival grand slam". Martin Grab is the only wrestler to have achieved this so far. He won at Schwarzsee in 2012 and thus closed the gap. Giger can do the same on Sunday.
However, it won't be a walk in the park. Giger is just one of the big fish on Schwarzsee. With Fabian Staudenmann, Adrian Walther, Armon Orlik, Matthias Aeschbacher and Werner Schlegel, there are other top wrestlers at the start.
In the first round, Giger will face two-meter man Walther, whom he defeated in the final round at last year's Unspunnen. The Schwarzsee-Schwinget starts at 08:15 and offers a few treats to kick things off.
