“He’s almost half a Bernese”: Samuel Giger is the one and only king of girlfriend Michelle

Giger impressively proved what he means by this last weekend. At the Unspunnen-Schwinget, an event with a federal character that only takes place once every six years, he dominates the competition from A to Z. At the start, he knocks out season dominant Fabian Staudenmann within seconds with such force that even the Bernese Alps vibrate. In the next four courses he remains untouchable – and in the last course he makes short work of Adrian Walther from Bern. Looking back, he appreciates his opponent. “Adrian would also have deserved the title. He was the only one with six Confederates on the sheet music. But for me it’s the biggest win of my career.”

Giger is still in Bern the day after the triumph. His girlfriend, Michelle von Weissenfluh (25), is from Hasliberg. And there the two make a stopover on their way home to the shared apartment in Märstetten TG. “Sämi is almost half Bernese,” says Michelle with a wink. The two met in 2018 in Schwägalp-Schwinget. Giger won the traditional mountain wreath festival for the second time, incidentally at the age of 20. Michelle, the medical assistant, accompanied her brother Kilian, himself a Confederate and winner of 44 wreaths. The von Weissenfluhs in Hasliberg are a great wrestling dynasty. Also Michelle’s father Peter jun. was a wrestler. Uncle Christian and grandfather Peter senior. ever made it to the crown ranks at the federal level.

It is his environment that gives Giger the security he needs. The giant is considered sensitive and reserved. Friend Michelle puts it this way: “Sämi is very balanced and level-headed.” It’s also a fact: Samuel Giger has long resisted the hype surrounding the sawdust stars. He was rarely seen in the glossy media and gave little insight into his private life. He had no sponsors or management.

Preferably without a manager

He still manages to this day without a manager – the only wrestler in his class: “Michelle does the administrative and media work for me. That’s how I feel most at ease.” He has now opened the door for sponsors: “That was also a maturing process.” Its website features the logos of six partners, the most prominent of which is Lidl, and the most emotional probably the East Swiss demolition and civil engineering company Haffa from Bürglen near Weinfelden.Although Samuel Giger could live off swinging – experts estimate his current marketing value at between 500,000 and a million francs a year – the trained carpenter still works part-time as a truck driver.”It gives me the balance I need,” he says.

Giger speaks softly and chooses the words carefully. Today, he still eschews the media fanfare. He finds the question about his gray hair ‘quite boring’: ‘They are genetically determined.’ Friend Michelle says with a laugh: “I find her very attractive.” Samuel Giger prefers to let his actions speak for themselves in the sawdust. Before he triumphed at the Unspunnen, he had already won one of the other two festivals of a federal nature in 2021 with the Kilchberger. His palmares at wreath festivals is unparalleled: he participated 61 times and won no less than 30 times. He has already won 5 times at the local Schwägalp mountain wreath festival. This season he triumphed for the first time on the Brünig – a stone’s throw from Hasliberg: “That was very special,” he says.

The fact that he can book this season as a great success is partly due to some adjustments last winter. He reduced the workload by 40 percent and changed mental coaches. Now he works with former handball coach Adrian Brüngger, who relies on a hypnosis method to mentally strengthen top athletes – including track and field star Simon Ehammer. Giger explains: “To outsiders it sounds like trance and sleepwalking. For me it is the state of maximum relaxation.” Giger’s fitness coach also comes from the handball field: Goran Cvetkovic, also a trainer at Scout Winterthur. According to Giger, the parallels with handball are no coincidence: “This sport is also very physical and requires top performances. with the greatest mental tension.” Speaking of handball: Sämi’s sister Andrea (24) played as a goalkeeper for Brühl St. Gallen in the highest division and in the junior national team.

The mental pressure as an obstacle

The changes were also in response to the missed opportunities at the federal festivals in Zug 2019 and Pratteln 2022. Despite his youth, Giger was one of the big favorites both times, but saw his chances dwindle early on. The model athlete identified the mental pressure as the biggest hurdle, which he has now probably overcome with the grandiose victory at the Unspunnen. However, he does not want to speculate on this or his feelings about the Federal 2025 in Glarus: “Now I can be happy with Unspunnen’s victory – and then we will go on vacation. Swing training will start again soon enough.”

Family support is even more important to Giger than the sports environment. At Unspunnen he could count on his personal fan club: grandfather Christian Schild (74), mother Hanni Giger (55), sister Andrea – and the brothers Emil (34) and Christian (33). And of course friend Michelle: it is mainly she who makes her friend think about other things in her spare time. Giger says, “Sometimes I can forget about swinging with her. We go hiking or skiing – or play games with friends.”

The Unspunnen winner appreciates the little things. And they are small pieces of the mosaic that form a colossal whole in the sawdust. At 25 years old, Samuel Giger is one of the most evil East Swiss in history. The big chance on the Federal is still missing, but time is on its side. And anyway: with Michelle he is the one and only king.