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Star skier Cuche still going strong at 37

Just like an old Swiss watch that never stops ticking, Didier Cuche continues to defy his age on the World Cup circuit.

Published: 25 November 2011 10:14 CET
Star skier Cuche still going strong at 37
Skistar Trysil

What the 37-year-old Swiss speed specialist has been able to achieve in the latter stages of his career has been astonishing.

In March, he won the World Cup overall downhill championship title, marking the fourth time he has captured the crown (2011, 2010, 2008, 2007).

“I was pretty happy with last season,” Cuche said on Thursday. “It is still fun and a pleasure for me to ski and that is why I decided to continue.

“I feel comfortable right now even with the many hours of training I put in and the risks that come with our sport.”

Cuche’s pursuit of his third consecutive downhill title begins this weekend in the Canadian Rockies with the season opening FIS World Cup speed races.

The first men’s downhill race of the season is Saturday followed by the super-G race on Sunday.

Cuche ended last season ranked first in both downhill and super-G, finishing second in the overall rankings to Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic.

The 17-time World Cup race winner is now chasing Austrian legend Franz Klammer for the most downhill champion titles. Klammer has five with his last one coming in 1983.

“It would be a great success,” Cuche said of equalling Klammer’s record.

And in January last year, Cuche surpassed Austrian Michael Walchhofer to become the oldest downhill winner in the history of the World Cup, taking the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbühel at the age of 36 and 159 days.

The world’s elite men’s skiers head into Lake Louise after an almost five-week break, following the cancellation of the November 13th slalom in Levi, Finland due to a lack of snow.

Repeating as the Crystal Globe downhill champ will be no easy task for Cuche as he will face strong challenges this season from Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, Austria’s Klaus Kröll and Italians Christof Innerhofer and Werner Heel.

Among those missing is last year’s Lake Louise downhill winner Walchhofer, who retired in March after compiling 19 career World Cup victories in 13 seasons.

Race officials cancelled Wednesday’s first training run because of heavy snowfall and Thursday’s training was also pushed back two hours so workers could try and get the course ready.

“It used to be a glider’s course and thought of as an easy track. The last couple of years they’ve made it quite icy and bumpy and made it quite challenging to be fast on,” said Canadian skier Jan Hudec.

Kostelic is hoping to get back into a groove similar to the run of success he enjoyed late last season which propelled him to the World Cup overall title.

Kostelic won the overall title but then spent the off-season recovering from knee surgery. He said Thursday he feels fine and one of his goals this year is to better his results in the speed disciplines.

“Downhill and giant slalom are my worst disciplines so I would like to do better in both of those,” Kostelic said.

He said the five-week break between races was good for him because he wasn’t able to train in the off-season like he normally does.

“I missed a lot of training because I had my surgery in the spring. I made up some of my lost training time during the break,” Kostelic said.

Austrian skier Mario Scheiber, who finished second in the Lake Louise downhill last season, pulled out of the first downhill and super-G of the season on Thursday because of an injury.

Scheiber was due to return to competition in Lake Louise after fracturing his collar bone and nose in a training crash in January in Chamonix. But he injured himself last week training in Colorado.

The loss of Scheiber and Walchhofer means two of the top three finishers from last year’s Lake Louise downhill will not be back this season.

The men next travel to Beaver Creek, Colorado for three races, downhill, super-G and giant slalom.

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SWITZERLAND EXPLAINED

Everything you need to know about Schwingen in Switzerland

Have you heard of Schwingen? Switzerland's national sport involves jute shorts, sawdust, and a whole lot of wrestling,

Published: 7 February 2024 14:19 CET
Everything you need to know about Schwingen in Switzerland

While relatively unknown outside of Switzerland, and largely concentrated in the country’s German-speaking cantons, Schwingen is Switzerland’s homegrown form of wrestling.

In a sawdust ring, two competitors aim to throw each other onto their backs, with both shoulders touching the ground. Each time this is achieved, a point is awarded to the victor.

All this throwing is achieved by grabbing the leather belt attached to the jute shorts worn by the combatants.

As simple as this sounds, there are several styles of Schwingen and hundreds of recorded holds and grips. Size and strength play a significant role in Schwingen, but flexibility cannot be discounted as a factor in determining a champion. 

A proud history 

Like any martial art, the origins of Schwingen are lost to history, but it’s safe to say that just like the Schuhplattler of neighbouring Bavaria – that’s the slappy lederhosen dance – it’s been around for thousands of years, practised by mountain tribes, and later shepherds tending mountain flocks.

The first depictions in art date from the 13th century and the first written records from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, when local church authorities sought to crack down on the rowdy celebrations that these competitions were associated with.

Indeed, Schwingen was massively restricted for hundreds of years, under the fear that it was leading to drunkenness and all manner of other sinning. The large majority of Schwingen meets at this time took place in isolated areas, far from prying eyes. 

All of this changed with the arrival of industrialization, railways and tourism. With many flocking to rural Switzerland for the beauty of outdoor spaces and quaint local customs, Schwingen was brought back to the cities by fascinated spectators and became so popular that it needed to be codified and organized to regulate it.

To this end, the Schwingerverbandes, or Federal Wrestling Association was founded in 1895.

Read More: Schwingen: Everything you need to know about Switzerland’s ‘national sport’

More popular than ever 

Schwingen is now a very popular sport within Switzerland, practised by a dedicated core of amateurs and professionals, and watched by far, far more,

Experiencing a further boom throughout the 20th century, boosted by broadcast media, it became mass entertainment. It’s a televised sport, revolving around several key meets, at the canton and federal levels. In addition to youth Schwingen, there have been women’s competitions since 1980.

The Federal Swiss Wrestling and Alpine Festival is the apogee of competitive Schwingen, held every three years – think of it like a Swiss Olympics. The next will be in Glarnerland in 2025. 

Another massive event for Schwingen fans is the Unspunnenfest, held every twelve years in Interlaken. The next of these will be held in 2029.

Crowned in 2022, Joel Wicki from the canton of Luzern is the current Swiss Schwingen champion. Topping out at just over six feet, and weighing in at 110kg, he’s far from the biggest contestants – but then again, it’s not always strength that matters in a Schwingen bout. 

Want to get involved? 

While Schwingen isn’t exactly the kind of thing that international visitors generally involve themselves in, there is a fully packed calendar of events throughout the year for spectators.

These range from indoor events in the winter months, to the larger outdoor competitions during the summer. You can find out more on the Federal Wrestling Association’s website.

You can also track Schwingen competitions, and find out where to watch them on TV or online, via Sport.ch.

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