The debacle of the Swiss show jumpers at the Summer Games in Paris may not have been a coincidence after all. The Swiss also failed to finish higher than 8th in the Nations League final in Barcelona.
In the 1.6 million euro final of the inaugural League of Nations, Germany came out on top with twelve points ahead of the Netherlands (16) and Sweden (20). The Swiss only managed 8th place with 40 faults.
Spanish course builder Santiago Varela set a challenging but perfectly feasible course with 15 obstacles. Of the 36 starters from the eight best nations from the qualification plus the home team, 17 remained clear in the first round.
The Swiss were motivated and wanted revenge for their miserable team performance at the Olympic Games. The result was more of a déjà vu. The starting rider Martin Fuchs already had to accept two knockdowns in the opening round with his 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding Conner Jei. Pius Schwizer and Vancouver were still able to keep up with just one fault at the jump-off of the tricky triple combination, while Alain Jufer with Dante and Olympic silver medallist Steve Guerdat with Venard de Cerisy each recorded three faults. This meant that Peter van der Waaij's team finished in last place after the first round.
The new test format no longer provides for a scratch result in the second round. The team manager therefore decided to replace Alain Jufer. In the difficult reprise, only the experienced rider Schwizer rehabilitated himself, showing one of only six clear rounds. Fuchs again had two knockdowns, as did Guerdat. This left Switzerland in eighth and last place.
Guerdat openly admitted that this Swiss result was "really embarrassing". "We deserved to be relegated to the third division. The whole season hasn't been ideal, we have to wake up again." Martin Fuchs doubled down: "It's bitter to end the outdoor season like this. We had definitely hoped for much more."
SDA
