Schönried near Gstaad is in the spotlight for the first time as the venue for a major downhill event. Although not peppered with blatant rock gardens and huge jumps, the organizers offer a fun but at the same time very challenging and natural course. There are hardly any mistakes here, so the excitement was guaranteed for the race itself.

The defending champion Maxime Chapuis starts the race in eighth place. Based on his good results in the World Cup, he is also the top favorite here. His time in the final run is enough for first place, but he is followed by seven fast riders. However, none of them came close to his time of 2:53.060 minutes - Felix Klee, the third-to-last rider, also beat Chapuis' time and finished fifth. It is Lutz Weber who then turns the tide and sets the fastest time on the Rellerli track.

All eyes are on Noel Niederberger, the fastest of the timed run who starts last. He is fast, perhaps a little too fast, and rides off the track. Despite the loss of time, he still manages to finish in third place. Lutz Weber is therefore the new Swiss champion. "Everything worked out perfectly in my run. Where I had overdrawn a bit in the timed run on Saturday, I took something out today. But I went all out on the rest of the course. It's now up to my tailor to sew on the Swiss champion sleeve in time for the upcoming race on the Wiriehorn," laughs the newly crowned Swiss champion.

Surprise in the women's race

When it's this close on a course, you have to go all out. That's exactly what Lea Rutz set out to do and achieved. With a lead of around three seconds, the 21-year-old surprisingly took the Swiss title. "It's my first medal at the Swiss Championships, and then the gold straight away - I'm over the moon. It's a great feeling! My run was perfect, I got through everywhere well, but I was pushing myself to the limit at times. I think that's exactly what it took to win," says a delighted Rutz about her first major victory.

Carina Cappellari was unable to play her favorite card and had to settle for the silver medal. Although disappointed, she shows her sporting spirit: "My run was actually quite good, but probably a bit too safe. I would have loved to win, but Lea simply had the better run and so congratulations to her."

Excitement also builds for third place. Alexandra Wohlgensinger brings down a solid time of 3:40.604 minutes. However, Géraldine Fink manages to beat the target and takes the bronze award.
"I started very confidently and tried to get everything out of the track. I made a small mistake just before the finish, but it was still enough to win - albeit very narrowly. I'm super happy!"

The closest decision was in the juniors. Ari Montanier won by just 26 hundredths of a second ahead of Janis Lehmann and a further 1.3 seconds ahead of Pascal Reusser. Montanier said: "I started very confidently and tried to get everything out of the course. I made a small mistake just before the finish, but I still managed to win - albeit very narrowly. I'm super happy!"

In the Masters Licensed category, there is also a new Swiss champion in Martin Kägi. Second place goes to Jérôme Crottaz, third place to Thomas Ryser.

Ranking lists Swiss Downhill Championships

The race before the race

The staging of the Swiss Downhill Championships was in limbo for a long time until it was announced on July 1st that Schönried near Gstaad would host the title fights. However, the organizers did not have much time, and so the actual race began in order to make the championship race possible. Romeo Cairoli, the driving force behind the race, speaks of the hectic time that the team around OC President Claude Frautschi had: "It was a hectic time leading up to the race. We only received the actual permit for the race course on July 10. So we still had around a month to complete the few existing sections by building more - by hand, of course. Apart from the 200 meters that we were able to do with the excavator, we spent many hours building most of the track with shovels and pickaxes. We were also able to count on the great support of Dominic and Pascal Tinner. A big thank you also goes to the locals who sacrificed their free time to complete the route on time."

After the race, Cairoli was also visibly satisfied with how everything went and added: "A big thank you to all the helpers, sponsors, riders and support staff - simply to everyone who supported the event in any way. Thank you also for all the positive feedback, and I would be delighted to see some of you back on the track."

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