Switzerland’s genius show jumper Steve Guerdat crowned his brilliant career Sunday by earning individual gold, as the FEI World Championships ended its remarkable two week run with a fabulous flourish.
For the final act, how appropriate that Steve’s stellar record of an Olympic individual gold, European Championships individual gold and three World Cup finals finally was joined at Aachen by the elusive piece he had been unable to capture, the World title.
Tied before the class started with Germany’s Daniel Deusser, who dropped a rail in each round, Steve became the only rider who did not drop a rail during the course of the championships. Unless the planet Mars starts putting on horse shows, Steve now has nothing else to conquer on the highest level in this equestrian universe.
But there is still plenty to conquer for the two members of the younger generation who joined 44-year-old Steve on the podium. Belgium’s Thibeau Spits, only 25 and ranked as the number one Young Rider, took individual silver, while Harry Charles, 27, of Great Britain earned bronze — rocketing from fifty-ninth place at one point last week. They will be among other rising stars we saw at Aachen who insure a bright future for horse sport.
Steve Guerdat (center) with Thibeau Spits and Harry Charles. (FEI Photo/Leanjo de Koster
And what that sport is capable of was on display in a style that only Aachen could deliver, offering a brilliant panorama over six disciplines.
Asked to comment on his victory, Steve responded, “I don’t have the words,” as tears made their way down his face. The man who has had two back surgeries in recent years showed his prowess was unaffected by that affliction, as he rode the 13-year-old Selle Francais mare Dynamix del Belheme (Snaike de Blondel X Cornet Obolensky) to Switzerland’s only medal of the championships.
“I was very nervous all week,” revealed Steve. He finished on his score from Wednesday’s first round with 0.86 penalties. Thibeaux (5.60) and Harry (7.17) were both double-clear in the deciding two-round test set by Aachen’s resident course designer, Frank Rothernberger.
” I thought, `World championships is every four years. It’s not every four years that you have a horse like Dynamix,’ Steve commented.
“It’s not every world championship that you are in a situation where you can bring a medal, and maybe the gold, which I was dreaming of. I kept getting very nervous about my last chance to get it. I never wanted to finish my career before having won Aachen. There’s not a day in my life where I don’t think about Aachen. To win the world title, the one I was missing, in Aachen. I don’t think it gets any better than that.”
The first round of the individual finals was down to 25 riders from the field of 142 who started for the discipline. on Wednesday. They were the best after three days of jumping that secured the team medals for Germany, Belgium and Great Britain.
Sunday’s first course
The U.S., which finished just off the podium in fourth place, had two competitors come forward on Sunday, but they did not make it to the second round. McLain Ward, who had been in twenty-first after the team competition with High Star Hero, had a rail at the second fence of the first round, an orange and white oxer 1.55 meters high and another at the Longines oxer two obstacles before the end. He finished his participation in the same placing.
“Hero gave so much in team rounds, maybe (he was) a little out of gas,” McLain commented.
“I didn’t expect the second jump. I think he was a bit surprised by how big it was. I think the horses performed great this week. We should have had a team medal.
He added, “The ground’s taking a beating, no doubt. This is for me the greatest venue in the world…but I think on reflection 150 horses (starting) this many days in a row on the turf, I think it’s not something that’s great.” He suggested the footing situation is something that should be considred in the future.
Laura, twelfth going in with Baloutinue, had an uncharacteristic fault at the water that scuttled her chances of making the final round. She wound up fourteenth.
“It’s very disappointing because he jumped outstanding,” she noted.
“He thinks he had a clear round. I don’t think he has any idea he touched the tape (at the water). It’s the first time in the time I’ve ridden him he even came close to the tape. He’s been a champion all week.”
As for the rest of the course, she pointed out, “He jumped it so easily. He had plenty in the tank to come back for a second round.”
Sunday’s second course for the top 12.
Aachen is always a very hard act to follow. Its show jumping world championships in 1986 were an experience I will never forget (writing about the first female world champion, Gail Greenough) and its 2006 World Equestrian Games was even more memorable. This month’s tour de force 20 years later set a standard that likely cannot be emulated elsewhere.
It was a fabulous success, and the closing ceremonies were emotional as always; I wasn’t the only one with tears in my eyes.
From Isabell Werth repeating her musical freestyle on Wendy de Fontaine (for me, it was even better than her bronze medal performance last week), to a liberty horse performance and then dancing horses with purple-clad riders, it offered entertainment.
But that was only a prelude to the heart of the Aachen farewell, the traditional parade of smiling athletes, including all the gold medalists, something that pulled on the heartstrings of the spectators. The crowd as always waved white handkerchiefs, joining in the nineteenth century folk song, “Muss i Denn,” as the show jumpers, vaulters, Para participants, dressage riders, eventers (yes, Michael Jung was there) and drivers walked out under the sign that read “Aufwiedersehen Aachen.”
I told myself that old saying, “Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened.”
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