This nerve-wracking week for the German show jumpers would have taken the maximum turn by a darned pole: On Friday, after missing out on a medal in the team final, they hung their heads. On Sunday, Philipp Weishaupt and his horse Zineday competed for the individual gold medal at the European Championships in Milan. As the last starter in the last lap, Steve Guerdat grabbed it. The Swiss Olympic champion of 2012 did not allow himself a mistake in any of the five individual tests with the mare Dynamix and showed once again that year after year he can compete with very different horses at the top of the world class
And Philip Weishaupt? The rider from Riesenbeck in Westphalia secured the first individual medal of his career, the silver, and said he “couldn’t be happier” with the result and with his horse, which is still so young. The 38-year-old only had one down with the chestnut gelding Zineday – in the team final of all places. “Without that annoying mistake,” as Weishaupt put it, he would have been even at the top and bronze in the team. The well-deserved joy over Weishaupt’s final coup couldn’t quite hide the fact that the German team left a major championship without a team medal for the second time in a row.
The Swiss Steve Guerdat (centre) wins his first gold at a European Championship ahead of the German Philipp Weishaupt (left) and Julien Epaillard from France. : Image: dpa
“In the end we were fourth, that’s okay, but all in all it’s disappointing,” said Otto Becker on Saturday about the performance of his quartet, which had led on Thursday after the second of three partial tests. The native Franconian has been the national coach for almost 15 years and was previously very successful in the saddle himself. But the 64-year-old had not experienced what happened on the day of the team decision in Milan. Ironically, the experienced Marcus Ehning, winner of the Grand Prix of Aachen, had to cancel his start with the stallion Stargold at short notice.
His horse was startled in the stable, a vertebra in the back blocked. Shortly before the start of the European Championships, André Thieme from Mecklenburg, the 2021 European Champion, had to withdraw because his horse Chakaria was slightly injured. After such failures, fourth place with the team could be considered conciliatory. But Otto Becker is not known for praising things: “We didn’t manage to win the medal or at least ride a few clear rounds.” It could have been the eighth European Championship title for the Germans. But after Jana Wargers with Limbridge (eight penalty points) and Gerrit Nieberg with Ben (four penalty points) came out of the course with errors, all hopes were gone. Becker didn’t want to blame his riders under such difficult conditions.
Instead, the Swedes triumphed. With a total of just 9.51 penalty points, they clearly won ahead of Ireland (18) and Austria (22.77). Germany scored a total of 25.31 points. The Scandinavians now hold all three major team titles: they became Olympic champions in 2021, world champions in 2022 and now European champions. With Henrik von Eckermann, they have the current individual world champion and world number one in their ranks. He competed in Milan with the mare Iliana and not with his top horse King Edward, and still finished sixth in the individual, behind his compatriot Jens Fredricson.
The Swedes also had to do without his brother Jens, the two-time Olympic silver medalist and European champion from 2017, who fell in June. What makes the Scandinavians so strong at the moment? “Of course you have an outstanding rider in Henrik von Eckermann. And the momentum is on their side,” said Otto Becker. Team rider Wilma Hellström, who was new to the team, described the Swedish secret of success: “It’s not just the riding, but the whole plan behind it and the organization around us and the respect we all have for each other.”
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A rider as consistent as Henrik von Eckermann, who is equipped with several top horses and constantly rides clear rounds with his King Edward, has been missing in Germany for a long time. The Germans also clearly missed out on medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and at the World Championships in Herning last year – in teams and even individually. After all, fifth place in the World Cup team standings meant qualifying for the summer games in Paris, which start in less than a year. The national coach is optimistic that his team was “always competitive and in the top group” despite the failures in Milan. And: “We have a couple of promising young horses.”
For example Zineday, who jumped so confidently to silver despite being only nine years old. Becker described this performance as “sensational” and Philipp Weishaupt as “exactly the right rider for this horse”. In December, the couple achieved their first major success by winning the Frankfurt Grand Prix. “Zineday is a very special horse with exceptional qualities,” said Weishaupt, already citing the 2024 Olympic Games as his big goal.
