Daniel Deußer has achieved one of the greatest successes of his career to date. The show jumper won the Calgary Grand Prix in Canada for the first time on Monday night. With his mare Killer Queen, the native of Wiesbaden was the only competitor to have three clear rounds.
In the jump-off he prevailed against the Swiss Steve Guerdat, Olympic champion from 2012, and the Belgian Gilles Thomas. The second German starter, Gerrit Nieberg from Sendenhorst, finished fifth. For Deusser, a childhood dream came true with this victory, as he said after the competition: “This is a historic Grand Prix that I watched on television when I was very young. I still have VHS tapes of it at home, which I watched over and over again.” At the time, however, he couldn’t have imagined riding there and then winning. “It’s a fantastic feeling.”
“Daniel did a great job”
When looking at the video cassettes, the 41-year-old Deusser may have also seen Otto Becker. The national trainer of show jumpers has won the Grand Prix twice in his career and now follows the rides of his German riders in Canada via an internet stream. “It’s a special victory, I was able to experience it myself,” said Becker. “Daniel did a great job. He took the risk of riding a slow clear lap.”
Steve Guerdat started the jump-off with his horse Venard de Cerisy as the first starter and galloped across the finish line after 41.70 seconds. However, he was penalized with four points after a throw down. Gilles Thomas even made two mistakes with Aretino. He needed 42.31 seconds for the jump-off. In the end, Deußer “only” had to get through the course without making any mistakes and took a little more time (45.78 seconds). For his victory, he received EUR 770,000 in prize money including a bonus of EUR 250,000.
Nieberg strong fifth
The “Spruce Meadows Masters” tournament in Calgary is one of the most prestigious and best-paid show jumping tournaments in the world. It is also part of the Grand Slam of Show Jumping, which includes not only the CHIO Aachen but also the indoor tournaments in Geneva (Switzerland) and s’Hertogenbosch (Netherlands). Deusser had won the latter in March with the stallion Tobago, with Killer Queen he had won the Grand Prix at the CHIO Aachen last year.
Another German had this chance in Calgary: 29-year-old Gerrit Nieberg, who won the Grand Prix at the CHIO Aachen in early July. In Calgary, the rider, who lives in Münsterland, and his horse Ben had a down in the first round. After that, the pair came out of the course without any mistakes in the second round. Nieberg also received words of praise from the national coach: “It’s another top result for Gerrit. Riding in Calgary for the first time and finishing fifth straight away, he can be happy with that.”
Neither Deusser, the current best-placed rider in the world rankings (18th), nor Nieberg were part of the German team at the World Championships in August, where the German team finished fifth. At the World Cup, the trials took place on sandy soil in the football stadium in the city of Herning. The horses Killer Queen and Ben showed once again that the large grass arenas in Calgary and Aachen suit them well.
