A great moment for Austria’s show jumping team

Red-white-red tears of joy flowed on the lawn of the Ippodromo San Siro in Milan. Austria’s show jumping quartet with Katharina Rhomberg, Alessandra Reich, Gerfried Puck and Max Kühner received the bronze medals at the European Championships at exactly 4:39 p.m. The actual goal, the Olympic ticket for Paris 2024, suddenly became a bonus to the historic result. An Austrian team had never won a medal before, the highlight was a fourth place for Hugo Simon and his comrades-in-arms in Gijon in 1993.

It’s been a while since Olympic honors, too. In 1996 in Atlanta the team finished eleventh, and in 1992 in Barcelona they achieved sensational silver. This time everything went like clockwork in Italy, which was also due to the impressive performance of top rider Kühner. The Tyrolean set the course on the demanding course (maximum height of 1.6 meters, 490 meters distance, 13 obstacles, 16 jumps) with a clean-shooting ride on Electric Blue P. Because Reich also convinced with just one down, 22.77 points were set in stone and third place behind Sweden (9.51) and Ireland (18.0) was a done deal. Upper Austrian Stefan Eder was happy from the outside, he was an “iron reserve”.

Hoping for an impulse

“It feels great, we didn’t expect it that way. It was probably the most important clear round so far,” said Kühner. “It’s very special, the Olympic qualification was the most important thing for us. I hope that gives an impetus to the entire equestrian scene,” added the 49-year-old, who also had good chances in the European Championship individual final of the top 25 on Sunday may calculate. Kühner qualified for it in tenth place, Puck in 20th place. Eder was 41st after three laps.

Hugo Simon also had every reason to celebrate yesterday. The 81-year-old enriched the Spanish team as a consultant, fifth place also gave the Iberians a starting place at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. “The Spaniards are certainly happy too, but not as much as we are,” said Puck.

Rhomberg thanked her colleagues with great relief: “It’s unbelievable! We would have been satisfied with the Olympic ticket, but now we even have bronze. Unbelievable – I knocked down three today (drops, note), luckily I have Such a great team that caught it.”

Head of the team Angelika May confirmed this: “It was the team spirit that made this success possible for us.” This marks the end of a long dry spell. The previously last Austrian Olympian in show jumping was Anton Martin Bauer in 2000 in Sydney.