The highlight of the wrestling season will take place in Appenzell on Sunday. The jubilee wrestling festival, which only takes place every 25 years, offers the "bad guys" a unique opportunity to win.
More than seven years have passed since Appenzell was awarded the contract to host the "125th anniversary of the Swiss Wrestling Federation" jubilee wrestling festival. Back then, on March 4, 2017, the canton with the smallest population of 15,000 was still expected to host the festival in 2020. After all, the association, which was founded in Bern in 1895, was celebrating its anniversary that year.
However, the coronavirus pandemic threw a spanner in the works for the organizers, which is why the anniversary edition had to be postponed. Due to other festivals with a federal character, it was ultimately postponed by four years. As a result, the 125th anniversary of the Swiss Wrestling Federation will now take place on Sunday.
Exclusive field of participants
The highlight of the season in the capital of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden follows the Kilchberger Schwinget 2021, the Federal Wrestling Festival in Pratteln two years ago and the Unspunnen Schwinget last year in the line-up of festivals with a federal character. Only the best 122 wrestlers in the country are admitted to the event, which takes place every 25 years. The field of participants is therefore not as exclusive as at Kilchberg, where only 60 wrestlers take to the sawdust. However, the density is significantly higher than at the Swiss National, where around 280 wrestlers compete for the coveted wreaths.
The starting places were allocated according to the size of the sub-associations. The Bernese-Cantonal Wrestling Association and the Central Swiss Wrestling Association each have 32 athletes, with one less from the North-Eastern Swiss. In front of 18,000 spectators, 14 athletes from north-western Switzerland and 12 from south-western Switzerland will also take to the four sawdust rings. With Thomas Badat from Canada, there will also be a Swiss abroad in the field of participants. The 27-year-old from Quebec is the only Swiss wrestler in Appenzell not to have won a wreath.
Only victory counts
As at the Unspunnen and Kilchberger Schwinget, which take place every six years, there are no wreaths to be won at the jubilee Schwingfest - only victory counts. For the first time since the Unspunnen in August last year, wrestlers from all the sub-associations will be competing against each other. The role of favorites is shared by the hosts from north-eastern Switzerland with Unspunnen winner Samuel Giger and Werner Schlegel and the Bernese with the recently outstanding Fabian Staudenmann and Adrian Walther.
The Central Swiss also have a hot iron in the fire with wrestling king Joel Wicki. However, the withdrawal of the Zug giant Pirmin Reichmuth due to injury weighs heavily. The north-western and south-western Swiss are the underdogs. In view of the density of participants, the triumph of a western Swiss would be a sensation.
So far, four festivals have been held with the title "Jubilee Schwing Festival". Even though they were always held to mark the 25th, 50th, 75th and 100th anniversaries, for various reasons they were not always held at quarter-century intervals. And unlike this time, not all of the jubilee wrestling festivals held to date have stood alone. The "normal" Swiss Wrestling and Alpine Festival was also considered a "jubilee wrestling festival" when it was first held in Langenthal in 1919 and most recently in Chur in 1995. Thomas Sutter, the wrestling king of 1995, is therefore regarded as the last winner of an anniversary event.
Giger, Staudenmann and Co. want to follow in Sutter's footsteps. Not only fame and honor beckon, but also the winner's muni "Alpstein".
SDA
