The course on Sunday afternoon in Gothenburg was set up according to the importance of the jumping. After all, this final stop of the World Cup season in the Western European League was about the last qualification points that were still to be awarded in order to be able to fly to the grand final in Omaha. There were 20 points for the winner in Gothenburg, even the 16th place got one point. When the French rider Marc Dilasser with Arioto du Gevres (by Diamant de Semilly) was the second rider to have a clear round over the 1.55m course, some spectators might have thought that the whole thing was perhaps too simple. But it took until the 15th, until Pius Schwizer with Vancouver de Lanlore (by Toulon), before Marc Dilasser had company for the jump-off. In the end, there were really only four participants in this final.
Once again the French rider went ahead, did everything right and fast enough with his four-legged partner: Their 41.02 seconds were not equalled by anyone else. The second starter into the jump-off then also became the second in the result: Pius Schwizer crossed the finish line with Vancouver without a fault after 42.35 seconds. Danish was spoken behind him: Lars Bak Andersen, the fourth and last rider in the jump-off, also jumped clear for the second time with Ethene (by San Patrignano Corrado), but it took him 42.55 seconds. His compatriot Andreas Schou had been the second fastest rider on Darc de Lux (by Darco) with a time of 41.66 seconds, but one fault meant that he finished fourth. At least he was awarded 13 qualification points for the standings - and for Andreas Schou this was almost as important as a victory. Because with a total of 51 points, it meant the certainty of being qualified for Omaha.
The same happened to Pius Schwizer, who was 24th in the standings before Gothenburg and still a good distance away from the glorious 18 who are allowed to fly out of the Western European League to the Final. Now he has 47 points on his account - Nebraska, here we come.
For Marc Dilasser, the 20 points for the winner in Gothenburg did not change anything: He was happy about the victory, the 675,000 Swedish crowns, but does not need to plan for Omaha. Because he had not yet collected any World Cup points this season - just like Lars Bak Andersen.
It was a completely different story for Harrie Schmolders, who missed the jump-off with Monaco N.O.P. (by Cassini II) in Gothenburg after a slight fade, but still collected 11 points for the standings in sixth place. The total of 40 points allowed him to jump up from the hopeless 25th place. Now he is 19th and can hope that someone in front of him will give up his start and that he can still go to the final. Scott Brash did even better in the standings: With Hello Jefferson (by Cooper van de Heffinck) he also finished ninth due to a drop in Gothenburg, but with the 8 points he earned he left 20th place in the standings behind him and can now safely plan for Omaha in 13th place. Yuri Mansur had to tremble for the longest time, who finished with seven faults with Vitiki (by Valentino), thus slipping out of the money prize in Gothenburg - but in 14th place he still earned 3 points for the overall standings. And that meant for him the saving 18th place in the final table - and for Richard Vogel, who was on the road at the same time in Wellington, the slip to the 21st place. He can now only hope that three qualified riders, for whatever reason, will give up their starting places.
Four of the German riders are now qualified for the World Cup Final in any case: Daniel Deusser, Gerrit Nieberg, Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann and Marcus Ehning, who has already won the World Cup, the unofficial indoor World Cup, three times in his long history of success and now also finally has a horse under saddle again with Stargold (by Stakkato Gold) that gives him a chance.
Of the three German riders who competed in the World Cup show jumping in Gothenburg, Philipp Schulze Topphoff was the only one who was able to secure himself a piece of the victory cake: One fault plus one time fault point secured him 12th place with Clemens de la Lande (by Comme il faut). Marcel Marschall came home with ten faults on Coolio (by Casalito), Marco Kutscher collected 24 points with Aventador S (Armitage).
