The German Vice Champion Maurice Tebbel took second place as the best German in the opening event of the CHIO Aachen. With his gelding Quasi Top, the Emsbürener only had to admit defeat to the Swede Evelina Tovek.
In the saddle of Cortina, Tovek rode the fastest lap without a knockdown and won ahead of Tebbel, who was more than a second slower than the winner.
Daniel Deußer provided the second-best German result. The Hesse, who lives in Belgium, rode fourth with Narcos. Jörne Sprehe (Fürth) managed a small surprise in eighth place. The 40-year-old was also impeccable and was ultimately just ahead of David Will (Dagobertshausen/9th place), former world champion Simone Blum (Zolling/10) and Jens Baackmann (Münster/11).
Nieberg misses top 10
However, many top riders took it easy in the show jumping before the opening ceremony in the evening and did not ride for victory. Gerrit Nieberg, last year’s Grand Prix winner, took his time on the course and was more than ten seconds slower than the Swedish winner in the saddle of Blues d’Aveline.
After the first competition, the opening ceremony with royal splendor was on the program. Since Great Britain is the partner country of the CHIO this year, Princess Anne was invited. King Charles’ sister is a great equestrian expert, she was European Champion in eventing in 1971.
First sporting highlight on Wednesday
The first sporting highlight of the CHIO is the Europa Prize on Wednesday (6.40 p.m.), the second most important individual show jumping event at the world’s largest horse show. In front of 40,000 spectators, a spring competition with two rounds will be completed under floodlights.
