Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

A small spit for mankind

Two world records are firmly in Swiss hands after a cherry stone spitting competition in canton Berne. Conchita Kohler of Brugg in canton Aargau expelled her pip some 19.01 metres, smashing the previous best by more than two and a half metres.

With that spit, Kohler has wrested the women’s record back from her compatriot, Sonja Rohr, who propelled her pip to a world best of 16.49 metres only last month.

In the men’s competition, Thomas Steinhauser, also from Brugg, took the title with a blast of 25.22 metres. Steinhauser’s effort was up 80 centimetres on the previous world mark, and a spit in the eye for the previous American holder of the world record.

Between 500 and 1,500 participants take part in Switzerland’s five to six annual cherry stone spitting contests.

Before spitting the pip competitors have to eat the cherry, and some eat up to 50 in a match. The Swiss cherry pit spitters’ assocation has 600 members.

swissinfo with agencies

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR