Guerdat holds off Germans in Stuttgart

The 2012 London Olympic champion and his 10-year-old mare Hannah topped a group of 16 horse-and-rider pairs in the decisive jump-off round, finishing with 0 faults and a time of 48.19 seconds. The Grand Prix victory was worth €80,000 for the current World No.11, but also vaulted him into first place in the Western European standings as the riders target a spot in next spring’s World Cup Jumping Final in Paris.

Guerdat now has 43 points, ahead of France’s Kevin Staut with 38 and Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann (35). Staut also made it into Sunday’s 1.60m Stuttgart jump-off, and also rode clear with no rails down, but crossed the finish line with his 11-year-old stallion Silver Deux de Virton HDC in a slower time of 51.01 s. For his part, Von Eckermann also figured in the jump-off after a clear first round, but ended up in 16th with Newton Abbot after racking up 12 faults. In total, 40 elite riders had been slated for the World Cup qualifier class at the Stuttgart German Masters, with three retiring from the competition.

The big German contingent was gunning for a win on home soil, but ended up off of the top of the podium, with Philipp Weishaupt and Asathir, Christian Ahlmann and Epleaser van’t Heike, and Simone Blum and DSP Alice, nevertheless second, third and fourth respectively. Highlights from the jump-off can be seen here.

“You have to really believe you have a chance,” Guerdat said, “especially when you are going at the end of a jump-off. I’ve been five times second in the Grand Prix here in Stuttgart and I really wanted to win it one day. I would have preferred to have one down in the fastest time than not to be fast enough today, so I really went for it!” 

After Oslo, Helsinki, Verona, Lyon and Stuttgart, then, the Western European League circuit next heads to the sixth stage in Madrid, before staying in Spain in La Coruña, London, Mechelen, Leipzig, Zürich, Bordeaux and Gothenburg.

The next Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final is set for April 10-15, 2018 in the French capital.