Jump for joy!

On Friday night, Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs made a dream come true when taking his first Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final-title on home soil at CHI Geneva. This was the 23rd edition of the final, and Fuchs was only entered at the beginning of the week when Conor Swail had to withdraw due to issues with his horses' flight to Europe from the U.S. – and the 32-year-old Fuchs grabbed the opportunity and brough out his top horse Leone Jei for the occasion. 

“My horse has a huge stride and an incredible jump,” Fuchs detailed after his lightning fast second round – which was more than a second faster than that of runner-up Kent Farrington. “I knew that the fastest riders in the world were coming after me, so I tried to put a lot of pressure on them and really went for it. The second round worked out how I planned, with a very nice forward eight strides to the last fence, but still I was not sure if it would be enough. When you have those riders coming after you, anyone of them can beat you and anyone can be faster, so it was a long time to be watching them.”

With this photo special, we look back at some of the magic at CHI Geneva as Fuchs could celebrate adding the Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final-trophy to his collection – together with the incredible Leone Jei, his long-time groom Sean Vard, as well as family and friends. 

All photos © Jenny Abrahamsson for World of Showjumping.