When Nino Schurter, Lars Forster, Flo Vogel and mechanic Kurt Gross presented their pale cheeks in front of the White House, the world champion was officially on military service. On that day, Schurter, a top sports soldier, was receiving pay and compensation. On their way from the World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne to the World Cup final in Snowshoe, the troops took that ominous break in front of the President's official residence. As the Tages-Anzeiger found out, he is now being sanctioned by the Swiss army. The nature and extent of the punishment is not public, army spokesman Daniel Reist told the newspaper.

Schurter had already apologized to Swiss Cycling and deleted the post from his Instagram profile just a few hours after it was published. Nevertheless, he and his fellow uninvolved riders can be sure of the approval of a not insignificant number of their fans.The fact that Schurter is being punished by the army - we are talking about a reprimand - seems to be an elegant way out, so that neither Swiss Cycling, nor Swiss Olympic, nor his team and certainly not the civilian Swiss judiciary have to do anything. According to legal experts, the offense of insulting a foreign state is only applicable if it takes place in Switzerland. It could be unpleasant for Schurter if the USA does take legal action. In the worst-case scenario, he could have problems entering the USA. So it's a good thing that no World Cup race will take place in 2020 in the country whose government he thinks so little of. If necessary, and here we are definitely entering the realm of speculation, the record world champion can hope for a pardon from a new president in 2021.