After a jump-off of three horse-and-rider combinations, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat and Dynamix de Belheme (Snaike de Blondel x Cornet Obolensky) claimed silver in Tuesday’s Olympic individual final in Versailles. With a rail down on the penultimate upright, and a time 0.04 seconds slower than Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 (Comme Il Faut x Come On), the 2012 Olympic champion and reigning European champion had to settle for silver this time around.

Coming into Monday’s individual qualifier, it had been a long week in Versailles for the Swiss rider as he had missed out on the team final after a disappointing start to the Games. However, as the sportsman he is, Guerdat returned with a bang in the individual qualifier – leaving the disappointment behind him to post a clear round that qualified him for the final. With yet another clear in the final, Guerdat went into a jump-off against Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 as well as Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z (Bustique x Jumpy des Fontaines), and despite his jump-off not going quite as he would have wished for, the Swiss darling of showjumping was still smiling big. 

“We were probably lacking one big show before we came here, she jumped her last big class in La Baule, then she only had a few small classes in between so the first day was pretty tough,” Guerdat said about the team qualifier, that did not go according to plan. “We were just really not into it, so we had a very bad round – not because of the result, but because of the way the round went. It made me really upset, or really sad, that I had to show my mare like that. But fortunately, we were able to come back, and I was able to live up to her and show everybody how great she is.”

“My mare was spectacular today,” Guerdat said about Dynamix’s performances in the individual final. “Of course, I am very upset about my jump-off, but this is not what I want to focus on – I want to be happy about my second [Olympic] medal – and that colour is nice as well.”

“The jump-offs are still our weakness with Dynamix, I have known this for over a year,” Guerdat said. “I have been trying to train that as much as possible, but you don’t get so many tries – right? Today, I was confident because it was doable, the time was not absolutely crazy, already from 1-2 I had a good turn, but then she overjumped number 2 so I had to add a stride to number 3 so then I lost time. Then I thought that something has to happen, and then you lose a bit the focus on the horse and just think about the time, so it was a mess, it was definitely not good enough, but I don’t mind. Right now I just want to enjoy the medal that I have won, not the medal that I have lost.”

“I had a few regrets after London; that I felt that I did not enjoy it enough, running from show to show, head down – when I look back, I think these medals are so difficult to have so you have to try and enjoy it if you get the chance to get another one," Guerdat said. "Now, I got the luck to have another one, I have an amazing family, my wife and my daughter, so I am definitely going to spend a bit more time with them in the coming months."

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