Uri local is the fastest speed windsurfer in the world

From this year we are supporting the speed windsurfer Heidi Ulrich with the pursuit of her passion. For the last eight years, everything in the life of the Flüelen native has revolved around speed surfing. Whether on Urnersee or in international waters, she regularly attempts to break various world records. Since 2019 she has held the world speed record over one nautical mile (1.852 km) with a speed of 70 km/h. The likeable Uri local is unbeaten in all World Cup races she has attended since 2019.

World record attempt

At the end of October Heidi travelled to Namibia. She wanted to allow herself one month for attempts on the 500 m record. However, before she had even arrived there was a shocking moment when she broke a finger just before reaching her destination, Lüderitz. But she did not let this mishap unsettle her.

The first high point came at the end of November: She achieved a new top speed for women of 49.3 knots (91.3 km/h). But she did not manage to break the 500 m record. It was only on the second to last day that she was finally successful: with 47.14 knots, which is almost 90 km/h, she had a dream run and was able to improve by 0.7 knots on the old record held by Zara Davis since 2017. With this record, Heidi Ulrich fulfilled a great dream: she is the “world’s fastest woman on open water” – the fastest woman in all disciplines.

We warmly congratulate Heidi on this fantastic achievement and look forward to accompanying her in the future.

Vote for Heidi Ulrich - at the SUI Sailing Award as "Female Sailor of the Year"

Here you find the voting...

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The sponsorship of young sporting talent is an important issue for us. We are therefore particularly pleased to be able to support numerous sportswomen and men from Uri this year. We wish all of them every continued success in the pursuit of their passion and, above all, that they avoid injury.

Fabio Püntener: cyclist

Raised and living in Silenen UR, Fabio has been a cycling enthusiast from a young age. He competes for the Solothurn bike team both on a racing bike and on a mountain bike. His 3rd place in the Swiss Championship in 2021 as well as various top‑10 podium places in the World Cup brought him to our attention. 2022 is his first official professional year and he has concentrated fully on his sports career since the start of May. Before that he worked part-time in a training programme where he qualified as a multi-skilled mechanic in 2019.

Nicola Senn: tennis

As an aspiring young tennis player, Nicola is currently one of the best tennis players in Uri. Nicola is in the middle of training as a designer EFZ (Swiss federal proficiency certificate) at Emil Gisler AG. During the lunch break as well as after work, Nicola is to be found in the tennis hall at RTC Seedorf. Recently he has been training for the Lido Luzern tennis club and has participated in various training camps with international opponents.

Lucas Malcotti: fencing

The native of Lower Valais discovered his passion for fencing at the early age of eight. Since then, this passion has kept its hold on him. By the time of his victory in the team competition at the World Championship in 2018, Lucas had become a household name in the whole of Switzerland, and with his 8th place at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, he finally joined the best in the world.

Ronnie Bratschi: car racing

Since a young age, the place to find Ronnie has been a race track. First in motocross and for the last couple of years as a racing driver, the native of Seedorf has always tried to squeeze the maximum speed from his car. With shift work and also working at weekends, he saved the money for his current Mitsubishi EVO on which he works every winter to obtain optimal performance. Three years after his first race, he became Swiss Slalom Champion in 2013. In the years that followed he won the FIA International Hill Climb Cup in cat. III three times, and took 2nd place in the Swiss Hill Climb Championships once. First place in Performance Class 1 as well as an award as the Best Performer in the FIA European Hill Climb Championship followed in 2021.