Groß Viegeln: Swedish victory in the Grand Prix

At the end of the five-day four-star tournament on Holger Wulschner's beautiful equestrian center, 38 couples competed in the Grand Prix, which was endowed with 100,000 euros. At first there were hardly any faultless rides, only towards the end did the field for the jump-off fill up: six couples remained faultless, half women and half men. The riders had little to smile about and had to cede the first three places to the female competition. Swede Irma Karlsson crossed the finish line with a clear best time of 41.04 seconds. She sat in the saddle of the Chacco-Blue son Chacconu from the breeding association Oldenburg International (OS). Alexa Stais, rider in the stable of Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Markus Beerbaum, also stayed clear with the Holsteiner Casall son Crispo R, but the time wasn't long enough to win (0/42.37). Marie Ligges was significantly faster in the saddle of the Westphalian gelding Corcovado L by her father Kai Ligges. Cornet Obolensky. The pole fell at the last obstacle - so it was third place (4/39.75).

Felix Hassmann (Lienen) is notorious for fast laps in the jump-off. This time, however, the distance to the last obstacle was not right, so he steered past his Dutch gelding SIG Hawkeye and started a new attempt: four penalties in 49.66 seconds, fifth place. Markus Brinkmann (Herford) finished the test one place better. His Pikeur Callas, Holstein daughter of Cardenio, finished in 46.37 seconds.

There was a surprise winner in the championship, the second most important test of the tournament. Rene Dittmer cheered: "This is absolutely my greatest success ever and it was the first time that Burlington Riverland had ever had such a difficult time and then we win right away. That's unbelievable.” His time: 47.67 seconds. The 28-year-old worked in the stables of Meredith and Markus Beerbaum for a few years before setting up his own business in Stade. A good two years ago, Dittmer took over the eleven-year-old Frenchman Burlington Riverland, son of My Lord Carthago, from his girlfriend, the US show jumper Chloe Reid. The South African Oliver Lazarus, who crossed the finish line only eleven hundredths of a second slower (0/47.78) with the French mare Butterfly Ennemmel, claimed second place. The third best pair were European Champion Andre Thieme, himself from Mecklenburg, and the OS gelding Conacco by. Conoglio (0/48.16). As in previous years, the organizers, Holger and Astrid Wulschner, received a lot of praise from both the participants and the spectators for the perfect organization of the tournament. The riders particularly appreciated the fact that they had the opportunity to start with many horses. And the prize money was right too. hen