Edited press release from Longines Global Champions Tour

Germany’s Christian Ahlmann emerged victorious in Sunday’s CSI5* 1.55m Saint Laurent Eiffel Challenge in the French capital, taking back-to-back wins after his triumph in Saturday’s Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Paris.

Early to go in the jump-off, Ahlmann pulled out all the stops on his 9-year-old stallion Otterongo Alpha Z (Darco x Hedjaz) finishing in 34.79 seconds – beating Penelope Leprevost and GFE Candy de Nantuel (Luidam x Diamant de Semilly) by just over half a second to once again deny the sold-out crowd a home win. Turkey’s Omer Karaevli – last year’s winner of the Saint Laurent Eiffel Challenge – gave it everything to try and retain his title but had to settle for third place on Policeman (Perigueux x Acord II).

Commenting on his remarkable back-to-back victories, Christian Ahlmann expressed his gratitude for the unwavering support of his team after returning from the injury he sustained in Mexico eight weeks ago. Commenting further on the career and talent of Otterongo Alpha Z, Ahlmann said: "He is born at Zangersheide, so we have had him for 9 years, he was breeding since he was young… we build him up very carefully.”