

Swiss racing driver Marcel Fässler won the World Endurance Championship in 2012 and has won the Le Mans 24 Hours three times, and motorcycle racer Thomas Lüthi won the 2005 MotoGP World Championship in the 125cc category. Switzerland also won the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in 2007-08 with driver Neel Jani.
SOCCER SWISS NUMBER 3 DRIVERS
ĭespite the long-standing restrictions, the country has produced successful road racing drivers such as Clay Regazzoni, Jo Siffert and successful World Touring Car Championship driver Alain Menu. In June 2018 Switzerland hosted its first motor race in 63 years when the first Zürich ePrix was held as a round of the all-electric Formula E championship. In 2015 the Swiss government allowed a relaxation of the law, permitting head-to-head racing for electric vehicles only. However the proposed law failed to pass the upper house, and was withdrawn in 2009 after being rejected twice. On Jan amendment to lift the ban was passed by the lower house of the Swiss parliament.
SOCCER SWISS NUMBER 3 TRIAL
Motorsport road racing circuits and events were banned in Switzerland following the 1955 Le Mans disaster with the exception of events held in a time trial format such as hillclimbing. The stadium's capacity is 30,000, and attendance on the day was 16,255. More recently, 2006-07 Heineken Cup clash between the French side Bourgoin and Irish rugby's Munster was moved from Bourgoin's home ground, to the Stade de Genève ( Geneva Stadium). At the 2018 Women's Bandy World Championship, Switzerland will participate. In September 2017 Switzerland made its debut at the annual rink bandy tournament in Nymburk, Czech Republic. Stéphane Lambiel, two-time winner of the World Figure Skating Championships amongst numerous other domestic and international competitions, is one of the world's top figure skaters.īandy exists in minor form. The Swiss men's team skipped by Dominic Andres won a gold medal at 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. The Swiss teams have won 3 World Men's Curling Championships and 2 Women's titles. Simon Ammann has been one of the world's best ski jumpers in the 21st century, whilst Dario Cologna has emerged as one of the top cross-country skiers in the world in the late 2000s.Ĭurling has been a very popular winter sport for more than 30 years. Switzerland has traditionally been a strong nation in bobsleigh, enjoying a particularly fierce rivalry with East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. Moritz, which was also where the first bobsleigh was constructed in the late nineteenth century. Switzerland is also notable as the birthplace of competitive sledding, which originated in the Swiss resort of St.

Switzerland's most successful alpine skiers include Pirmin Zurbriggen, Peter Müller, Bernhard Russi, Didier Cuche, Franz Heinzer and Michael von Grünigen among the men and Vreni Schneider, Erika Hess, Michela Figini, Maria Walliser, Marie Therese Nadig, Sonja Nef, Lise-Marie Morerod and Brigitte Oertli among the women.

The Swiss reached their peak in the sport in the 1980s, when they won the overall Nations' Cup in the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup for seven consecutive years from 1981 to 1987. Skiing and mountaineering are much practiced by Swiss people and foreigners, the highest summits attract mountaineers from around the world.Īs a predominantly mountainous country Switzerland has traditionally been one of the strongest nations in the sport of alpine skiing, where it has a long-running rivalry with neighboring Austria.
