Is King Kilian Wenger on a farewell tour?

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Wrestling king Stucki, who is probably hanging his pants after the Seeländisches in June in his immediate homeland, leaves a big hole in Bern. He will be sorely missed as a wrestler, but also as an integration figure and figurehead. Of course the Berners still have a very strong team. Matthias Aeschbacher finally stepped out of the shadow of his prominent colleagues in Pratteln. And Fabian Staudenmann, after his second place in the federal and sovereign performances at the first spring festivals this year, has proven that he is the new leader of the Bernese. With Adrian Walther, Michael Wiget, Michael Ledermann and Severin Schwander, other top players of this generation are at his side. Remo Käser will also attack again after the disappointment in Pratteln. And the Berners also have some veterans who deliver. Bernhard Kampf is one of them. In addition to Stucki’s announced retirement, three other heavyweights, Michael Bless, Raphael Zwyssig and Andi Imhof, will no longer be with them this season.

Kilian Wenger, who massively promoted the rise of wrestling by winning the King’s title in 2010, is leaving everything open for the future. He has his back problem under control. Yet he skips one or the other festival. “Quality over quantity is my motto,” said Wenger. He faces the new season with a lot of motivation and will only decide how to continue after the Unspunnen-Schwinget. “If I stay healthy and have a good season, I can imagine being there again in 2024.”

The big highlight of the season is the Unspunnen-Schwinget in Interlaken, which takes place every six years. In 1999, Jörg Abderhalden managed to ensure that a reigning wrestling king also won Unspunnen. Will Joel Wicki pull off this feat this year? It is the sport’s most explosive question of the year. With the return of Michael Gwerder, the Central Swiss have an extra trump card. Apart from the king’s title, the performance of the Central Swiss team in Pratteln was more of a disappointment.

In addition to Joel Wicki and the Bernese team leaders, this will mainly be Pirmin Reichmuth. The man, who was on course for the kings in Pratteln for a long time, made an impressive impression at his first appearances this spring. Samuel Giger remains a giant of sawdust. The pressure to win the king’s title is gone. Giger is another hot candidate for Unspunnen. And he has a strong team behind him in Eastern Switzerland with Armon Orlik, Domenic Schneider, Damian Ott, Werner Schlegel and Samir Leuppi.

The Zurich Cantonal Wrestling Festival takes place on May 14 in the heart of the city of Zurich at the Allmend Brunau sports facility. Can the city of Zurich be infected with the Schwing virus? Are they pouring into the commons? Or are the Sechseläuten enough for them to keep their habits? In any case, the search for winning ammunition in Zurich was not so easy. The donor of the bull comes from the canton of Aargau.

The 17-year-old Michael Moser from Emmental narrowly missed the crown. A bright future is predicted for the 1.93 meter long Sennenschwinger. With Adrian Odermatt, a new name has come into the picture in Pratteln. The Northwest Swiss has what it takes to become team leader in his association, together with Nick Alpiger and Joel Strebel.

In terms of rules, there is a major change in the new season: to shorten the annoying grabbing for the aisle, the wrestlers are instructed to grab the opponent’s pants in about 45 seconds. Otherwise, the referee may order warnings up to a point deduction. “We don’t want to see the minutes of poignant banter for a course anymore,” said Stefan Strebel, the swing club’s technical manager.

It can be quite difficult to get tickets to major wrestling festivals. If it doesn’t work out, there are several ways for die-hard wrestling fans to get involved. Blick taps all major festivals from dawn to dusk. As usual, SRF broadcasts all sub-association and mountain wreath festivals online, and there is also the farewell of King Stucki on the Zeeland live on free TV. At schwingen-live.ch you can follow streams from cantonal and regional festivals such as the Emmentaler Schwingfest for CHF 10 per day.

The boom in Swiss national sport is unbroken. Interest is still huge. However, the Confederates’ loss of millions at Pratteln was a shock. The costs for the infrastructure at the largest sporting event in the country are sky-high. For this reason, the federal budget for 2025 in Glarnerland will be slightly reduced. Even though the demand for tickets will remain huge.

Dinosaur Stefan Burkhalter turns 49 on June 1. And climbs to its next season. Will he swing into old age? “No”, says “Burki” and laughs. The end of the season is definitely over. But this year one or the other wreath must be added to the 111 previous awards. That he is in his pants again is mainly due to his son Thomas, who has expressed the wish to go on a “swing tour” with his father again. And it is becoming increasingly clear that the son could appear ahead of his father in one ranking or the other. Burkhalter senior is also a guest at the Zeeuws Worstelfestival this year. Christian Stucki should then be adopted there.

Source : Blick