Four wrestlers share victory at Brünig-Schwinget as Staudenmann completes mountain crown set
Fabian Staudenmann joined an elite club by winning the Brünig-Schwinget, his final missing mountain crown festival, but had to share the victory with Armon Orlik, Werner Schlegel and Matthieu Burger after a drawn final bout.
The final bout
The Brünig-Schwinget ended with an unusual result on 26 July 2026: four wrestlers shared the festival victory. The Schlussgang (final bout) pitted Schwingerkönig Armon Orlik against Fabian Staudenmann, but after 12 minutes the pair could not be separated. Because Staudenmann was the more active wrestler, the judges awarded him a 9.00 for the gestellter (drawn) result, while Orlik received only 8.75. That quarter-point difference allowed Staudenmann to erase the deficit he carried into the bout and pull level with Orlik on 57.25 points. Werner Schlegel and Matthieu Burger had already reached the same total, so all four were declared winners.
During the bout, Orlik suffered an unusual mishap when his belt snapped after roughly four minutes, forcing a brief interruption while a replacement was fetched. The incident did not alter the outcome.
- Coach Beat Schläpfer informs Armon Orlik that a draw will suffice for victory, prompting a defensive tactic.
- Orlik's belt snaps, causing a brief pause before the bout resumes.
- The final bout ends in a draw; judges award Fabian Staudenmann 9.00 and Orlik 8.75 for the gestellter (drawn) result.
- Staudenmann, Orlik, Werner Schlegel and Matthieu Burger are declared joint winners, all on 57.25 points.
Staudenmann's milestone
For Staudenmann, the shared victory carried extra weight. The 26-year-old from Bern had previously won every other mountain crown festival (Bergkranzfest) but had never triumphed on the Brünig. By finally adding that missing title, he became only the second wrestler in history, after Martin Grab, to complete the set of all six Bergkranzfeste. A week earlier he had already claimed his second victory on the Rigi.
Orlik's tactical shift
Orlik entered the final bout expecting to need a win, but the situation changed moments before he stepped into the sawdust ring. When Lukas Bissig defeated Severin Schwander in the preceding bout, the arithmetic shifted: a draw would now be enough for Orlik to secure the festival victory. Coach Beat Schläpfer rushed to inform his athlete, who was already warming up and unaware of the development.
I was just warming up and didn't notice anything. That was great teamwork.
With the new calculation in mind, Orlik fought defensively, avoiding unnecessary risks while Staudenmann launched attack after attack. The judges' differentiated scoring reflected that imbalance.
Schlegel's comeback and Burger's unbeaten run
Werner Schlegel's path to the winner's circle was far from smooth. The 23-year-old from St. Gallen appeared to be out of contention after the fourth round, having only managed a draw against Michael Ledermann and then suffering a loss to Jonas Amrhyn after the lunch break. That defeat was controversial, as Schlegel did not appear to have both shoulder blades in the sawdust. He recovered in style, throwing Dominik Gasser with a Plattwurf to climb back into a share of the lead.
Matthieu Burger, a 24-year-old from the Berner Seeland, remained undefeated throughout the day. His final-round score of 9.75 against Luc Bissig lifted him to 57.25 points and a first-ever victory at a mountain crown festival.
Freiburg festival
On the same day, the Südwestschweizer Teilverbandsfest took place in Freiburg. Michael Moser dominated the event, his victory already assured before the final bout. The only question was whether he would share the win with Adrian Walther. Moser answered it decisively after five minutes of the Schlussgang, throwing his Bernese colleague onto his back to claim the title outright. The 2025 winners of both festivals, Joel Wicki (Brünig) and Joel Strebel (Südwestschweizer), were absent this year: Wicki retired at the start of 2026, and Strebel did not compete.
