Steve Guerdat has won the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping 2015 title in Las Vegas.
A long wait
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment,” said the Swiss rider, who very nearly blew his chances in the final round.
France’s Penelope Leprevost was second with Vagabond de la Pomme, while Irish superstar Bertram Allen came third riding Molly Malone.
Steve went into the final day of competition (19 April) in joint first place with USA’s Rich Fellers. Betram Allen was just one point behind them.
However, Rich had two fences down in the first round, which saw him slip down the leaderboard, while Betram had one costly pole at a massive 1.75m-wide oxer.
Close call
This meant Steve maintained his lead going into the second round after jumping clear on Albfuehren’s Paille, with Penelope and Bertram joint-second on five faults.
They both had another fence down in round two, which left Steve with two fences in hand. The Olympic champion used up all his lifelines, however, hitting the first element of the double at fence five and then having to gallop to the last to make the time, which saw him knock the final fence as well.
‘Cow-horse rider’
“I don’t really want to think about it!” said Steve. “Coming to the last I knew the time was tight. I could hear Martin Fuchs outside the arena saying ‘go, go’ and I don’t know what I did. I just went as fast as I could to the finish line, but unfortunately there was a big fence in the way!”
Steve made it just inside the time allowed, to finish on a total of eight faults, which was enough to crown him the 2015 Longines FEI World Cup champion.
“It’s the third time I was in the lead going into the final competition, and today I nearly messed it up again!’ he said. “Coming to the last I was riding more like a cow-horse rider! I’m so happy, I feel blessed!”
Went to plan
Penelope’s faster time of 65.30 saw her take the runner-up spot while Bertram, who was half-second slower, had to settle for third. USA’s Beezie Madden was fourth with 10 faults.
“I knew I was in with a reasonable chance this week, thankfully it went really well to plan and it’s great to be on the podium today,” said 19-year-old Bertram.
Watch the FEI World Cup Jumping Final on Horse & Country TV (Sky 253 andH&C Play) at 9pm on Tuesday 28th April.