‘It does change your life’: Swiss star wins silver in thrilling Olympic showjumping final
Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat and 11-year-old mare Dynamix De Belheme have won the individual silver medal in the Paris 2024 Olympic showjumping final.
“It’s so rare to get an Olympic [individual] medal, and this is my second. I am so proud of my mare,” said Steve.
Germany’s Christian Kukuk and 14-year-old gelding Checker 47 took gold, and Maikel van der Vleuten of the Netherlands claimed bronze with 14-year-old Beauville Z.
The three were the only combinations from 30 to make it through to the jump-off to battle it out for the individual medals.
Jumping in reverse order of time from the first round, Christian and Checker 47 set off across the shortened course comprising fences 1, 2, 16, 7, 10b and c, 12b and 17. They threw down the gauntlet, coming home with a fantastic clear round in 38.34 sec. Next to go was Maikel who set out meaning business, but Beauville Z clipped 10b to come home on four faults in 39.12sec.
It was then down to Steve and the athletic Dynamix De Belheme to keep the fences up and beat Christian’s time for the gold. The pair made a valiant effort, making snappy turnbacks and jumping the Eiffel tower fence (fence 7) on an angle. They jumped cleanly out of the double, but hopes of taking the gold were dashed when a tight turnback to the penultimate fence, a big vertical, didn’t pay off and the rail came down for four faults. The final fence stayed up and they stopped the clock on 38.38 to win the Olympic showjumping individual silver medal.
“The Olympics are about the medal, of course gold stays gold, but to have a second medal is also very special. My mare has been spectacular today, and of course I’m very upset about my jump-off but it is really not what I want to focus on,” said Steve, who won European individual gold with Dynamix in Milan last year.
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“I’m proud and happy about our second medal, and the colour is nice as well.”
Steve said ahead of his second round that he “knew it was possible”, but that jump-offs are the mare’s “weakness”.
“I’ve known that for over a year, and I’m trying to train as much as possible, but you don’t get so many tries [at jump-offs]. Today I was kind of confident because it was do-able, the time was not absolutely crazy,” he said.
“From fence one to two I had a very good turn, but then she overjumped number two. I added a stride to number three and lost time, and I thought ‘Ok, now I have to do something’, and then you lose a little bit of focus on the horse [because you’re thinking] about the time, so it was a mess.
“My jump-off definitely was not good enough, but I don’t mind. I’ll have enough time to think about all this in the future, and right now I just want to enjoy the medal I have won, not the one I’ve lost.”
Steve had a tricky start to his Paris Olympics campaign when Switzerland failed to make it through to the team final after finishing 12th in the qualifier. But Dynamix De Belheme found her form yesterday when they posted a crisp and speedy clear in the individual qualifying round, with Steve stating the mare was “back to herself”.
Steve expanded on his thoughts from yesterday about Dynamix’s preparations for Paris.
“We were probably lacking one big show before we came here,” he said. “Our last big class was in La Baule, and then she only had a few small classes inbetween. The first day [in Paris] was pretty tough, and we were just not really into it so we had a very bad round, not because of the result but because the way the round went made me really sad to show my mare like that.
“But fortunately we were able to turn back and I was able to show everyone how great she is.”
Steve, who won individual gold at London 2012, said this second Olympic medal is “particularly significant”.
“The second one is extra special because my situation is different, I was very young in London,” he said.
“It does change your life, but I sometimes think that I didn’t appreciate it at the time. I had a few regrets after London that I didn’t enjoy it enough, going from show to show with my head down. Now that I have grown up, I’m definitely going to appreciate it much more. I have an amazing family, especially my wife and my daughter so I’m going to spend a little bit more time in the coming months with them.”
The first round of the final was full of drama and as action-packed as you get as top combinations succumbed to Santiago Varela and Gregory Bodo’s tumultuous track. Britain’s team gold medallists Ben Maher and Scott Brash jumped lovely rounds but collected four faults apiece, as did team silver medallist Laura Kraut.
There was shock when Swedish favourite Henrik von Eckermann took an unplanned dismount between fences from King Edward, Martin Fuchs lost a stirrup and while he continued with Leone Jei they knocked the last fence, and penultimate combination, Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam and James Kaan Cruz looked promising but finished on 12 faults. Last to go in the first round was home-side rider Julien Epaillard, who had four faults with Dubai Du Cedre.
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.