He could hardly believe it himself and was visibly overwhelmed at the end: After a victory in round one at the World Cup Final in Omaha, a mistake in round two, which threw him back to tenth place - Henrik von Eckermann fought his way back to the top over two rounds in Saturday's Final with his King Edward (by Edward) and jumped right to the top of the podium. And this despite the fact that he came out of the course with a drop in the first round on Saturday. In the second round, everything fell through and in the end, five penalty points were on the World Champion's record. As last year, second place went to Harrie Smolders and his Holsteiner Monaco N.O.P. (by Cassini II) with nine penalties, ahead of Hunter Holloway with Pepita con Spita (by DSP Con Spirit) and eleven penalties. The best German was the World Cup debutant Richard Vogel with his Untited Touch S (by Untouched) in eighth place. Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann and Messi van't Ruytershof (by Plot Blue) jumped into 15th place at their first World Cup Final.
The final demanded everything from riders and horses over two rounds. Only three pairs remained without faults in the first round: Harrie Smolders with Monaco N.O.P., the defending champion Martin Fuchs with Leone Jei (by Baltic VDL) and Denis Lynch with Brooklyn Heights (by Nabab de Reve), who also won the competition with a double clear round.
The beaming winner of the evening, however, was Henrik von Eckermann: "It was such an up and down weekend. But I am like that, if I see a chance to win somewhere, I don't give up," said the new World Cup winner happily. Of course, he also benefited from the fact that Andreas Schou with Darc de Lux (by Darco) and Pius Schwizer with Vancouver de Lanlore (by Toulon), who had been in the lead until then, both had three faults in the two final rounds. They slipped down to fifth and sixth place.
The winners of the second competition on Thursday, Richard Vogel and United Touch S, were also a little unlucky: On the final line in round A it got a little tight for United with his big canter and so in the triple combination the last two poles went down and also the final jump did not stay down. In the second round the dream team from Dagobertshausen then showed their class again and only one time fault added up to the final score of 15 points. Of course it was still a great performance for Richard Vogel in his first World Cup Final with eighth place in the final result. Last year in Leipzig he was only there as a spectator and to keep his fingers crossed for his colleague David Will. This time it was the other way round and Vogel himself was among the front runners.
"I was honestly too scared of the last line in the first round and let him jump out of power," Vogel said after the competition: "Then the power was gone in the first round today. So it's totally on me." Nevertheless, his first World Cup final brought him "an incredible amount of experience, especially the first round today".
Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann was also satisfied with her first World Cup appearance, as she rode her Messi through the final with ease: "First of all, it was a highlight for me to be here. This is actually Messi's first indoor season at five-star level. Due to Corona and my pregnancy, he doesn't have that much routine in the hall. This hall here was also very demanding for us. The dimensions of the arena - it was all very tight, the jumps came very quickly. I think Messi clearly showed that he is a championship horse. He was totally confident in all rounds. He never made more than one mistake. Of course, I would have liked to have prevented one or two mistakes in order to be further ahead. Basically, I also believe that our main strength is outside. But I think we have definitely developed a step further here. I'm just proud of him."
Marcus Ehning and Priam du Roset (by Plot Blue) fell just out of the second round of the final, in which only the top 20 were allowed to compete, to 21st place. The two had been riding really well and confidently in the first round of the final. But at the last obstacle Marcus was unlucky and a pole went down. "It didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. I made three mistakes, but I'm still not dissatisfied. It wasn't really my weekend. But my horse jumped extremely well. We will both take a lot with us from this World Cup Final. And I hope I still have a lot of fun with him," Ehning summarised his experiences at his 20th World Cup Final.
Gerrit Nieberg and Blues d'Aveline CH (by Baloussini) were also only spectators in the second round of the Final, even though they only made one mistake on Saturday. A total of 26 points was enough for 26th place. "I definitely rode here with different expectations. After the first day, of course, all the hopes and expectations were already gone. I think we did well on the second day and also today in the final, with two decent rounds and one mistake each. Of course, I am not satisfied with the whole course. I have gained one more experience and I know what I still have to work on at home," Gerrit Nieberg summarised his Omaha outing.
Otto Becker, the national coach, summed it up as follows: "Richi came eighth as a newcomer. I have to say hats off to him. It was a pity towards the end, when his concentration might have been a bit off, otherwise he would have been even further ahead. But as I said, I think he can be satisfied. The horse presented itself very well here. In the end he is the best German. Marcus just didn't have a run. The horse jumped really well today and then got a net roll on the last jump, which was a real shame. Janne Meyer also had solid rounds here, she can also be satisfied. But in the end we have to say that we had five pairs here, a great World Cup season over the winter and we expected more here. We can't be satisfied. We only had two of the five in the final. Of course, we thought we would have more in the final and be able to advance further. The overall result is not satisfactory. The bottom line is that we were too far away from the top."
