“I was a bit unsure going to the final today as this is his first championship and I was a little nervous on Friday after the speed class, but in the end he has been amazing all week!” said the man whose won his first title in Las Vegas (USA) in 2015 and his second in Gothenburg a year later.
“It’s up to the horse to jump the fences so I really tried to focus on my riding and give the him his best chance, and he responded really well” Guerdat said. He’s growing ever-fonder of Alamo, although he admitted this evening that the horse he holds closest to his heart will always be his great partner Nino des Buissonnets who carried him to Olympic glory in London seven years ago.
It was a bit of a frustrating result for Fuchs because he has now finished second in two major events, last year’s World Championship and today’s Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final.
“But if I have to be beaten it is great if Steve wins, he is my friend and training partner. Clooney was amazing, he jumped both rounds easy, he is one of the best horse of the world. Two times second place is already a great achievement, and I am already looking forward to the European Championships this summer!” he said. That top step of the podium will surely come their way very soon.
But today it was Guerdat who reigned supreme, and he now joins an elite group of three-time World Cup winners that includes Germany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Marcus Ehning, Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa and Austria’s Hugo Simon, the man who won the very first title in Gothenburg in 1979.
“When I was young I used to dream of winning the World Cup, and when I finished second twice I wondered if it would ever happen. So when I won in 2015 it was very special, and to win here in Gothenburg the next year was even better, because this is such a great show, the crowd is like nowhere else and the atmosphere is unbelievable. To win three times, and to do it in Gothenburg again today, this makes me very proud!” he said this evening.