Text © World of Showjumping

 
Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat – reigning European champion, vice Olympic champion and current world number five – returned to competition last week, after having been side-lined due to health issues since the end of February. An emergency back surgery due to a herniated disk resulted in a 2.5-month competition break for the 43-year-old, who sadly missed out on the 2025 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final on home soil in Basel. 

After taking time to recover, Guerdat returned to international competition in Gorla Minore, Italy, last week – placing fifth in Sunday’s CSI4* 1.55m Grand Prix with Albführen’s Iashin Sitte. 

“Everything seems to be going good,” Guerdat tells World of Showjumping about being back in the saddle. “Last week in Gorla Minore went quite well, for every day I actually felt better. Hopefully I will be feeling 100% again soon.” 

Guerdat’s recovery from his second back surgery has gone more or less as planned. “We didn't have any negative surprises,” he explains. “I was told that it would be a long recovery, especially because it was the second surgery in the same place and obviously I am a little bit older now. My back wasn't in very good shape, so the doctors expected the recovery to take longer than last time and they encouraged me to be patient.”

While Guerdat is positive about his recovery so far, he is still having issues with feeling his right leg. “Everything that has to do with the nerves is complicated and takes a long time,” he says. “My doctors don't know how long it is going to take, and if the feeling will come back fully. This is something I am working on every day.”

No reproduction of any of the content in this article will be accepted without a written permission, all rights reserved © World of Showjumping.com. If copyright violations occur, a penalty fee will apply.