The German show jumping rider Richard Vogel brought in the first gold medal of his career at the European Championships in A Coruña.
Through two flawless rounds on his stallion United Touch, the 28-year-old crowned his perfect tournament from the Hessian Pfungstadt and himself the new European champion.
Team Olympic champion Scott Brash (Great Britain) and Gilles Thomas (Belgium) placed behind the outstanding bird. Sophie Hinners ended her EM premiere very neatly.
Vogel, Olympic participant from Paris, posted just 0.01 error points and thus an almost perfect result after a total of five marks tests. He did not allow himself a single drop with United Touch, just a gap of 0.03 seconds to the leader in time jumping on Wednesday prevented the completely flawless balance. A European champion had never coated so few error points, Vogel broke the record of defending champion Steve Guerdat from 2023 (0.43). After bronze with the team on Friday, it is the second EM medal for Vogel this year.
His teammate and partner Hinners initially kept hope for a surprising leap on podium. With My Prins, she pushed herself to sixth place for the crucial circulation, but had to hope for the competition. After two zero rounds, she ended her first championship without a drop.
Olympic champion Christian Kukuk had already lost sight of the medals after his expensive mistake in the team decision on Friday with Just Be Gentle, a penalty point for time crossing in the first circulation threw the couple back a little further. He narrowly missed the final of the best twelve couples than 17.
Record Marcus Ehning, who was still allowed to start in the final due to the waiver of better -placed couples, missed his round with Coolio again and also landed 24 after eight error points.