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“I am motivated to give my best,” Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat told World of Showjumping in A Coruña, Spain, where the 2025 Longines FEI Jumping European Championship got underway on Tuesday with the first horse inspection and a training session.

The 43-year-old has arrived in A Coruña as the title defender, after winning individual gold at the 2023 Europeans in Milan, Italy, with the wonderful Dynamix de Belheme (Snaike de Blondel x Cornet Obolensky). For A Coruña, Guerdat has opted for another ride; the 11-year-old Albführen’s Iashin Sitte (Bamako de Muze x Tinka’s Boy). “Championships in general are something I really look up to. It was a big goal for me in my career to be a European Champion, and I managed twice with the team and in Milan individually,” Guerdat said to WoSJ. “It was a very good time, and I really enjoyed it. Now it starts again, two years later, with a new horse – and I am looking forward to it. It is exciting, also because I am riding Albführen’s Iashin Sitte, and it is going to be his first championship.”

It was a big goal for me in my career to be a European Champion

- Steve Guerdat to WoSJ -

“Actually, I decided to ride Iashin for a few reasons,” Guerdat explains. “The main reason was that the big goal obviously is the World Championship in Aachen next year, and I think that it is nice for a horse to do another championship before a really big one like the World Championship or the Olympic Games. Iashin has never jumped a championship before, so I wanted to give him the experience of jumping one. Obviously, my first pick for Aachen would be Dynamix, but if something should happen, I would like to have another option – and I think Iashin has already been jumping very good there.”

Another reason Guerdat has opted to give one of his less experienced horses a chance in A Coruña, is that the Europeans this year do not count as a qualifier for the Olympic Games. The first possibility to qualify for Los Angeles 2028, will be at the World Championship in Aachen next year – where seven team quota places will be available. “Here in A Coruña, it is not a qualifier for the Olympic Games, which also allows us to maybe try something that is not as experienced or safe as our top horses – which we knew before coming here,” Guerdat pointed out. “Still, we have hopes, especially I – and Iashin is a horse that can jump clear over a few days. If you can do that, you can also dream of a good result.”

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