SWEDEN pipped Germany in a third-round showdown against the clock to win the opening leg of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup 2021 Division 1 series at St Gallen in Switzerland on Sunday afternoon.

On a dramatic day of sport in challenging weather conditions, it came down to a jump-off between Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and Germany’s Christian Kukuk. And super-cool Bengtsson sealed it with a brilliant run on his 12-year-old stallion Ermindo W.

From a starting field of 10 nations, only nine returned for the second round when the British opted to withdraw. And on a tough afternoon, when many of the teams finished with big scores, the closing stages turned into a cliff-hanger.

Swiss course designers Gerard Lachat and Reto Ruflin set them a testing track on which nothing could be taken for granted. Looping turns and dog-leg distances had to be accurately ridden, and the triple combination at fence four claimed plenty of victims.

Team Egypt sprang a surprise when tying for the lead with Germany going into the second round with just five faults on the board, while the Swiss were in third carrying eight and the Swedes were close behind with nine at the halfway point. Brazil, Britain, Israel, The Netherlands, Mexico and Italy were lying in that order as round two began.

The unrelenting rain led to several breaks in the competition to attend to the grass footing in the arena, but the horses coped well and the tension increased as Germany, Switzerland and Sweden continued to slog it out.

After the second round, both Germany and Sweden were on a score of 13, forcing a jump-off, while the home team of Switzerland had secured third place with 16 faults.

Jump-Off

First into the third-round jump-off, Bengtsson setting off with a determined run that saw him take a risky right-hand turn to the vertical second-last and clearing the final Longines oxer in a fast 43.50 seconds with the 12-year-old stallion Ermindo W.

Germany’s Kukuk also set off with fire in his belly, but when Mumbai hit the third fence then he took his foot off the gas to complete the course with an additional time fault. Second place would have to be good enough for his country on this highly competitive afternoon.

Swedish Chef d’Equipe, Henrik Ankarcrona, was thrilled with his team. “We have never won the Nations Cup here and my riders were fantastic today. The Organising Committee did a great job for the second round, taking the time to have a longer break to take care of the footing and it turned out very well.”