Edited press release from Longines Global Champions Tour

It was an electric start to the Longines Global Champions Tour of Stockholm, Sweden, as Nicola Pohl (GER) and Arlo de Blondel (Tlaloc M x Kassidi) took the top honours in the CSI5* 1.45m presented by Champagne Piaff, beating one of the fastest pairs on the circuit, Simon Delestre (FRA) and Olga van de Kruishoeve (El Torreo de Muze x Nabab de Reve) by just over half a second. 

Third place was secured by German maestro Daniel Deusser and Bingo Ste Hermelle (Numbero One d'Iso x Diamand de Semilly) as the only other combination to finish sub 59 seconds. 

Pohl couldn’t hide her delight while speaking with GCTV: “I couldn’t be happier to win this class tonight at such a special venue, and despite the weather it such a great atmosphere here. He felt amazing… sometimes when he hasn’t been to a show for a little bit he gets a little bit too excited because he loves it so much… so if I just stay calm, once he is in the ring if I just stay calm he just loves it so much.”

As the 43-strong startling list drew to it’s closing stages, the last of the riders put it all on the line. Angelica Augustsson Zanotelli (SWE) put the pedal to the metal onboard Dyrka du Carry (Siryus de Bavoz x Ruyblas) but couldn’t quite match the pace of Pohl to eventually finish in fourth place. It was then double trouble as twins Nicola and Olivier Philippaerts (BEL) battled it out, finishing fifth and sixth just fractions of a second apart from each other aboard Derby de Riverland (Kannan x L'Arc de Triomphe) and Kwik Tweet (For Pleasure x Twisther).