Hamburg and the Olympics
Olympia and the Al Shira'aa German Show Jumping & Dressage Derby are closely linked. Names, heights, emotions, performance, passion, goosebumps - neither the Olympics nor Klein Flottbek can do without them. The 'Hamburg and Olympics connection' is particularly evident in the LONGINES Grand Prix of Hamburg on Saturday afternoon.
The obstacle heights - At 1.60 metres high, the obstacles in the LONGINES Grand Prix of Hamburg are of Olympic proportions. At the Olympic Games in Paris, the 30 best riders competing for individual gold had to overcome 19 jumps, most of which were 1.60 metres high, some even 1.65 metres. There are Olympic requirements to overcome when it comes to 250,000 euros in prize money in the Hamburg Grand Prix.
Last year's winner - Yuri Mansur won the LONGINES Grand Prix of Hamburg last year with the eleven-year-old Miss Blue-Saint Blue Farm. The Brazilian rider competed in Hamburg for the first time in 2015, and nine years later he has fulfilled his dream. And realised another one: In Hamburg, the mare showed that she is in Olympic form, and three months later the pair were part of the Brazilian Olympic team in Paris. Mansur will be back in Hamburg again this year and will be aiming to defend his title.
Last year's runner-up - The 2012 Olympic champion from Switzerland, Steve Guerdat, secured second place in the 2024 LONGINES Grand Prix of Hamburg. And it was not least the Olympic champion who helped the Brazilian to victory: "Because I was on after Steve, I was able to see exactly how he rode the jump-off - I really took risks and that paid off," admitted Mansur.
This year's competition - "The Olympic champion from Paris Christian Kukuk is coming and is bringing his Olympic team-mate Philipp Weishaupt with him," says tournament director Matthias Rath happily. Olympic champion Kukuk has already emphatically proven that he is in a winning mood again this year: With Just Be Gentle he won the Grand Prix of Ocala in mid-March, with his Parisian gold partner Checker he won the Grand Prix of Wellington at the end of March and with Chageorge he was part of the winning team at the Nations Cup in Mannheim at the beginning of May.
But the Olympic champion will be up against significant competition - from his own country: four-time Olympic participant Christian Ahlmann, the 2021 European individual champion André Thieme and championship rider Jana Wargers. And international competition: team Olympic and world champion Peder Fredricson from Sweden, three-time Olympic participant Harrie Smolders from the Netherlands and European team champion Denis Lynch from Ireland.
On 31 May, the LONGINES Grand Prix of Hamburg, a competition of the international Al Shira'aa five-star tour with jump-off, will begin at 2.30 p.m. Hamburg will celebrate the new winner at around 5.00 p.m..
(KiK/pe&pa)