Eckermann on top of the world
ECCO FEI World Championships has come to an end. Ending with the Agria Super Sunday, the Agria FEI World Jumping Championship, and a gold medal for Swedish Henrik von Eckermann, who has delivered an absolute amazing performance this week.
21 participants met in the Agria FEI World Jumping Final’s first round to fight for a spot in the second and final round today, Sunday 14 August. In the second round only the 12 best riders were allowed, and it was among these, the medal-takers were found.
King Henrik
The gold medal was won by Swedish Henrik von Eckermann with his fabulous horse King Edward by Edward. Undoubtedly, Henrik is the World’s number one jumping rider, winning gold here in Herning wearing his armband showing that he is on top of the FEI World Ranking at the moment. During this week, King Edward did not put his feet anyway near a wrong position, he fought for going clear and he delivered again and again. With a cheering audience and a lot of Swedish fans, Henrik had the Stutteri Ask Stadium going crazy this afternoon in Herning.
“My horse jumps so many clear rounds, and he has done so many good things for me, it is a privilege and unbelievable. At the moment I am just a bit empty, I have tried to keep all those emotions down and tried to just get things done. A nd now we have pulled the plug and it is just pure happiness”, the new World Champion said.
Henrik shared a bit about how he feels before entering a big competition:
“It is always the same with me. Around two hours before my ride I am so nervous, you know like difficult to eat and stuff like that. But when I get up on my horse, it somehow changes to focus, and I am just trying to really do the best round for my horse.”
Silver for Belgium
The silver-medalist was Belgian Jérôme Guery with his beautiful stallion Quel Homme de Hus by Quidam de Revel. This pair as well delivered only clear rounds during the World Championship, and they stunned the audience with beautiful sport.
“I am feeling amazing, my horse deserves this, and it is so nice to bring a medal home. I am so happy for my team, my horse and my country, they all deserve this, and it is nice to take this one back home”, Jérôme said.
Bronze for van Vleuten
Getting the bronze medal today, Dutch Maikel van der Vleuten secured his second medal this week together with Beauvillle Z N.O.P. by Bustique. Going from the 8th place to the podium today after two amazing clear rounds.
“It has been a great championship for me, both with the team and individually. Friday, I made a small rider’s mistake and got one down, but with two amazing rounds from my horse today, I made it to the podium. I hoped before today, that if I delivered two clear rounds there would be a chance to get on the podium, and the luck was on my side today”, Maikel said.
British Ben Maher almost got a spot on the podium with the 12-year-old Faltic HB by Baltic VDL, but one down in the second round put him on the 4th place in the final ranking. The 5th place in the final ranking was taken by German Marcus Ehning with Stargold by Stakkato Gold. He made it all the way from the 21st place to the top-5 making two clear rounds today.
Well planned course design
Louis Konickx was the course designer at the ECCO FEI World Championships in Herning and together with his team of assistants he made one well-designed course after the other. Today, he finished with two courses with a lot of thought behind.
“My plan was to make the first round a bit easier for the riders and horses than yesterday, and the riders delivered so many nice rounds. In the second round the plan was to see the climbing for the medals, and it worked really well.”
Final result