Before the premiere of the Swiss World Cup: wrestling king Stucki dares to try biathlon himself

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What do wrestling and biathlon have in common at first glance? Granted, not too much. Biathlon requires extreme endurance and precision. Muscle mass and speed when swinging.

And yet the two sports will be combined in Lenzerheide GR from December 14 to 17. For the first time, a Biathlon World Cup will take place in Switzerland. As a guest sport for the Swiss premiere, almost nothing would be more suitable than wrestling. And hardly anyone would be more suitable as an ambassador than wrestling king Christian Stucki (38). One that can be used for almost everything in sports.

Stucki makes the cross-country skiing crowd explode

And so Stucki ventures onto the black ice for Blick, or rather onto the cross-country ski trail, to try himself as a biathlete. A few days before the World Cup, Blick meets Stucki on the Gurnigel above Riggisberg BE. Does the wrestler have any hidden talent? ‘I do not think so. Until now I have only seen this sport on television. That can be fun!”

Battista Bovisi, the trail manager at the local cross-country skiing club, found all the equipment for the experiment. What was easier said than done: “The shoes are only size 50, and Stucki is size 51… I simply couldn’t find a bigger cross-country ski shoe,” Bovisi laughs when he meets the wrestling king.

The wrestling king with the high-tech gun

On the Gurnigel, the conditions for Stucki’s very first biathlon attempts could not have been better. The pine trees are powdered with a glittering layer of fresh snow, the sun shines from the blue sky. Still, the wrestler doubts whether his journey into unknown territory is a good idea. «I don’t trust cross-country skis. These Lättli are just too narrow for me,” the Bernese explains about his hesitation. But there’s no point. Under the expert guidance of the passionate biathlete Leo Ruffieux (70), Stucki makes his way step by step over the perfectly prepared cross-country trail – and reaches the shooting range relatively gracefully and without falling.

There comes the next challenge. The diameter of the target, which is 50 meters away, is only 11.5 centimeters. When the athletes shoot while lying down, the target is reduced to 4.5 centimeters. The small caliber rifle that Christian Stucki is now using to target this target costs as much as a used small car. It was tailor-made exactly for Ruffieux, the owner. It looks a bit tense when the almost two-meter-tall wrestling king puts on the high-tech rifle after detailed instructions.

“I take my hat off to these athletes”

“That looks like a kid’s gun,” says a cross-country skier who passes by, smiling. It takes two attempts, but then Stucki hits the first black checker. In the end, two goals were scored from five shots. “So the goal of the day has been achieved,” he grins. Pretty happy that I can put the cross-country skis back in the corner.

Stucki and biathlon, it probably won’t be a big love affair. He is too shaky on the narrow skis. The respect for the sport and its athletes is even greater once you have tried it yourself.

“The individual performances in cross-country skiing and shooting are fantastic. But to have a steady hand after a cross-country sprint and to hit with a heart rate of 160… Chapeau, I really take my hat off to that!” It’s cool to get a taste of a completely new sport. But at the World Championships in Lenzerheide he will no longer put on his cross-country skis. His place will be in the sawdust as an ambassador to bring swinging closer to biathlon fans.

Source : Blick