He set the Swiss record at 13:07.54 min.[1] He also won a silver medal at the 1978 European Championships in Athletics, sharing it with the Soviet Union's Alexander Fedotkin; they both lost just one-tenth of a second to Italy's Venanzio Ortis.[2]
Between these two major championships medals, Ryffel had a rather varying success as a 5,000-metre runner. In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, he placed fifth in that distance, losing to the winner, Ethiopia's Miruts Yifter, by 2.1 seconds.[3] He ran significantly worse in the 1982 European Athletics Championships in Athens and in the 1983 World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland, placing only tenth and twelfth, respectively.[4][5]
Ryffel's final few years as a competitive runner, after the Los Angeles Olympics, were also rather undistinguished. He placed third in a time of slightly over 14 minutes at 5,000 metres in the European Athletics Cup's B final in Budapest in 1985. In the 1986 European Athletics Championships, he dropped out of the 5,000-metre final. In his last major international championships, the 1987 World Athletics Championships, he placed well outside the top ten runners at 10,000 metres and was eliminated in the 5,000-metre qualifying heats.[6]
^"The Great Olympic Book 4" / Suuri Olympiateos 4, published in Finland in 1984
^"European Athletics Championships 1978" / Yleisurheilun EM-kisat 1978, written by the "Runner" / Juoksija magazine's journalists and published in Finland in 1978
^"The Moscow Olympic Book" / Moskovan Olympiakirja, written by the "Runner" / Juoksija magazine's journalists and published in Finland in 1980
^"The Great European Championships Book" / Suuri EM-kirja, published in Finland in 1990
^"The World Athletics Championships 1983" / Yleisurheilun MM-kisat 1983, written by the "Runner" / Juoksija magazine's journalists and published in Finland in 1983
^"The World Athletics Championships 1987" / Yleisurheilun MM-kisat 1987
