Before the clock had turned 13.00, Henrik von Eckermann had secured two brilliant wins in front of his home crowd in Gothenburg. The second competition of the day was a 1.50m class with a jump-off, and 11 riders out of a start field counting 27 qualified for the second round.
The shortened track consisted of seven fences and eight jumps. First to go was the always dangerous Marcus Ehning and Pret a Tout (Hiram Chambertin x Stew Boy). From what it looked the German rider delivered a fast round stopping the clock at 0 37,58 seconds, but the time was not unbeatable.
Already the next rider in, Kevin Staut, proved to be faster with 36,01 seconds – but with one fence down Ehning stayed on top.
The young Swedish rider Alexandra Eriksson, was next to go and really impressed with a nice and fast round aboard Liss Royal (Lissabon x Royale W). Eriksson was in front of Ehning half way, but finally finished 0,02 seconds after the German top rider to slot in to a current second place.
The next rider to go was another accurate German, Marco Kutscher. Riding Van Gogh (Numero Uno x Bernstein) Kutscher was clear, but the time of 37,81 was only good enough to go in behind Ehning and Eriksson.
Another young Swedish rider had also made it to the jump-off, but with a fence down Robin Ingvarsson finally ended eleventh.
Lorenzo de Luca on Ensor de Litrange (Nabab de Reve x Mr Blue) rode a safe double clear in 43,60 seconds before the man of the day, Henrik von Eckermann entered the ring with Lucky Silvana Z (L.Silver Joter Z x Cortez 679). The two delivered a super round to take over the lead in 36,04 seconds and the crowd in Skandinavium went crazy.
Robert Smith was next, and not a man to put on the breaks. The British rider was able to finish the jump-off in 35,64 seconds, but the last oxer fell.
Norway's Pål Flam, a member of the 2016 Young Riders Academy, was next in the ring with Skjerabergs Larkin (Ladiesdream x Centauer Z). The 14-year-old gelding has lots of capacity, but takes his time in the air. Luckily a clear round gets you far, and with the time 40,43 the combination finally finished sixth.
Leopold van Asten and VDL Groep Beauty (For Pleasure x Contender) sat off in high speed, but had a fence down in the combination and therefore fell down on the result list.
Pieter Devos and Claire Z (Clearway x Cornado) were last to go and were obviously going to give Von Eckermann a fight for the number one spot. The crowds held their breath as the Belgian rider jumped the last oxer and it looked like he was going to make it, but the clock stopped 0,04 seconds behind Von Eckermann’s time. The roof in Skandinavium nearly lifted as the crowds could celebrate a double win for one of their heroes.