Steve Guerdat was a man on a World Cup mission in Helsinki: qualify for the Final. <\/p>\n
Sitting 20th on the Western European League standings with 29 points ahead of the 13th and final leg in Finland, the former World Cup champion had ground to make up and one last chance to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really wanted to do well because of the points,\u201d explained Guerdat. \u201cWe did the whole trip here to Helsinki just to try to gain the last few points that were missing for the Final, so I didn\u2019t want to mess it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spoiler: he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Thirty-nine combinations came forward for the Guilherme Jorge designed course with seven finding a clear path to advance to the jump off. When the final pair crossed the timers, it was the Swiss rider and Albfuehren\u2019s Iashin Sitte atop the leaderboard by just four hundredths of a second, securing their ticket to the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup\u2122 Final in April. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s their second World Cup win of the season. They also topped the qualifier in Leipzig (GER).<\/p>\n
Guerdat is one of five riders to have won the FEI Jumping World Cup Final three times. He took the title in 2015 with Albfuehren\u2019s Paille and again in 2016 with Corbinian. He collected his third victory in 2019 aboard Alamo.<\/p>\n
More impressive still, however, is his consistency. <\/p>\n
In 15 FEI World Cup Final appearances, Guerdat has only twice finished outside the top 10, and has six times jumped to podium finishes. He was second in 2012 and 2013 with Nino des Buissonnets and third in 2007 aboard Tresor.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not the wins on his mind when he wanders down memory lane. It\u2019s the misses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like to look back, but if I do I get more sorry I missed two wins with my best horse, Nino. Twice I was in the jump-off for the win and ended up second with him and I should have won both of them. When I look back I don\u2019t think of the three (wins), I think of the two I missed!\u201d he told the FEI in 2022.<\/p>\n
A fourth title in Fort Worth would set a new record\u2013if he goes. <\/p>\n
Guerdat withdrew from the World Cup Final last year due to health reasons and says he\u2019s still deciding whether he\u2019ll make the trip to Texas this April. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not thinking about that right now. I\u2019m just thinking about qualifying for the Final and enjoying the win,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cI\u2019m very happy and very thankful for the outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everybody close to the sport, or who knows me, knows about the special relationship that I have with this World Cup Series, and especially the World Cup Final,\u201d continued Guerdat. \u201cThis is a competition I knew about when I was growing up, and that motivated me to be part of it one day. Now I\u2019m a little part of the history of the World Cup, and I continue to be very motivated by it.\u201d<\/p>\n