FEI World Cup Jumping Final: speed and handiness for Schwizer
What a start for the FEI World Cup Jumping Final in Lyon! Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer clinched a sensational victory in the opening round, riding a horse that had never previously won an international competition. The rider steered the 10-year-old gelding Quidam du Vivier to pip the host nation’s Patrice Delaveau and Lacrimoso*HDC by just 0.3 seconds, while German veteran Ludger Beerbaum lined up third with Chaman.
Pius Schwizer is familiar with Lyon’s arena. In 2012, the Swiss rider won here the World Cup stage with Verdi III. A year and a half later, Schwizer had chosen Quidam du Vivier for the first class of the Final. Talking about Quidam du Vivier afterwards, Schwizer said: “I have a lot of experience and the horse relied on that tonight. He has a lot of talent and I knew Quidam for four years before I began to ride him - that was about four months ago. Previously he was ridden by Markus Hauri, son of Max Hauri. He was a very spooky horse so he was brought on slowly in smaller classes to give him confidence and he never won an international class before, but he has had some good placings in 3 and 4-stars over the last few months including at Gothenburg. He is a naturally fast horse, and in the end today was just my day!”
Second-placed Normandie's Delaveau said he was pleased to get the host country off to a good start, but he is not predicting the result just yet: “There are still another two days of competition so we must wait and see” he said wisely. When asked if, as a French rider, he feels extra pressure competing on home ground at Lyon, he explained: “Yes but the crowd carries you and spurs you on, so it works both ways!”
Beerbaum meanwhile talked about Chaman, the horse of which he said, after winning at the Grand Palais in Paris last year, “this is a horse to win a battle, but not a war”. The first German rider ever to win the FEI World Cup™ Jumping title back in 1993, Beerbaum intends to compete over the remainder of the event with his second ride, Chiara. When asked if he was happy with his round today, German rider said: “There is nothing I would have changed - even after the triple, I could have gone one stride less but these guys were two seconds ahead in the end so it wouldn’t have made any difference. I am absolutely happy with my round and my horse; he couldn’t have done better today”.
The second leg of the World Cup Jumping Final begins at 20.00 local time on Saturday 19 April.
Rankings
- Pius Schwizer (SUI) - Quidam du Vivier (63'37)
- Patrice Delaveau (FRA) - Lacrimoso HDC (63'67)
- Ludger Beerbaum (GER) - Chaman (65'54)
- Steve Guerdat (SUI) - Nino des Buissonnets (66'06)
- Ouaddar, Abdelkebir (MAR) - Quickly de Kreisker (66'40) (62'40)
- Daniel Deusser (GER) - Cornet D'Amour (66'69)
- Vleuten, Maikel van der (NED) - VDL Groep Verdi NOP (66'92)
- Billy Twomey (IRL) - Tinka's Serenade (67'25)
- Ahlmann, Christian (GR) - Aragon Z (67'65)
- Marcus Ehning (GER) - Cornado NRW (68'13)
Click HERE to see the full results