Dhe Marburg native Richard Vogel missed the long-awaited podium at the show jumping World Cup finals. In the US Omaha, the Swedish world champion Henrik von Eckermann won ahead of Harrie Smolders (Netherlands) and Hunter Holloway (USA).
The 26-year-old bird, who won the second of three partial tests on Good Friday night with his eleven-year-old stallion United Touch, finished eighth in the final and was the best German to look forward to prize money of 37,500 euros. Twelve penalty points in the first round were too many. Defending champion Martin Fuchs from Switzerland ended up in tenth place.
“Then the power was gone”
“To be honest, I was too scared of the last line in the first round and let him jump out of strength,” Vogel said after the competition: “Then the strength was gone in the first round today. So it’s totally my responsibility.” Nevertheless, his first World Cup final brought him “an incredible amount of experience, especially the first round today”.
Of the other German starters, only Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann (Pinneberg) made it into the final round, finishing 15th. Marcus Ehning (Borken) and Gerrit Nieberg (Sendenhorst) dropped out in the first round. Ehning finished the World Cup final in 21st place, Nieberg was 26th. Daniel Deußer had already withdrawn in the second part of the competition.
