“Alone on top of the world”

© Johan Nilsson / TT
Individual silver and gold in teams – that was Peder Frederickson’s result at the Tokyo Olympics. One explanation is that the equestrian star was intentionally trained to be faster at jumping.

Peder Fredricson never wants to look again after the time he moved on.

Now he is training purposefully to be the fastest in jumps.

I’m alone on top of the world. Now I’m training to win, not participate, says the equestrian star ahead of the European Championships in Germany.

After the Olympic silver medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Peder Frederickson, 49, started thinking more at the same time. Not in a philosophical sense – but it’s time for a decisive leap into whether it will be gold or silver in the tournament.

– In Rio, All In and I were defeated by half a second. Then I wasn’t fast enough. I was only second because the others really tore apart, we were just two flawless ones. Then I realized I had to go faster, says the equestrian star.

But in horse jumping, it is not normal to train on time. It usually just stops to focus on flawless riding and building horses, says Peder Fredrickson.

In a sport where time is so important, it’s strange that no one trains for it. I think it’s out of the comfort zone for the horse and rider to practice jumping. He says I didn’t do that either.

Video Analytics for Leaps

He first started alone at his home in Grevlundagården in Skåne, but the project didn’t start in earnest until eight months before this summer’s Tokyo Olympics with the support of the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) and the Swedish Equestrian Federation.

– The video analyst at SOK helped me out. If you hold a contest on Sunday, there will be a video analysis on Monday. Then you have to think again and get the reason why you lost or won in black and white.

A few days later, former national team rider Peter Erikson came to the farm in Austerlin.

Then Peter and I practiced for three hours on jumping and the things we had lost the previous weekend. Then you work on getting better and take control of your investment. Otherwise, you will often have to put out fires and do things that you have to do, but you will not get better at them.

The Swedish equestrian star is perhaps unique with his investments.

– As far as I know, I’m alone at the top of the world. Now I’m training to win, not to take part in a jump.

‘Huge results seen’

Fredrickson feels that has paid off.

“I’ve seen tremendous results during this time before the Olympics and part of the fact that we got the medals was actually because of that training,” he says, looking down at the kitchen table where his individual silver and team gold from the Tokyo Olympics lay.

– Maybe it wasn’t that All In and I got faster. It was also about coming to the Olympics and knowing that you trained for it and knowing that others didn’t. continues: He gave me strength.

With the fastest flight ever, Fredrikson took the gold for the Swedish team in a jump match against the USA. In the individual final, the Swede and Ole N were only 17 percent of gold medalist Ben Maher of Great Britain.

Trinidad and Tobago: Where do you find 17 hundredths while jumping?

– 17 hundredths is not much. He (Maher) was definitely better, but we made two very good bids by a very small margin. Everyone jumped, bent slightly to the left on the penultimate hurdle. But that’s no excuse, I’ve been way too slow 17 percent for gold.

TT: Could you take the Mahers time if you could jump after him?

– Maybe, but on the other hand I could knock down a boom and come in sixth.

“crazy on me”

In the European Jumping Championships, it is not uncommon to jump for medals because the format of the competition is different. It is often the decimals in the total score that decide.

On the other hand, training in jumps meant that Fredrickson and his star horses also became faster at basic jumps.

– We got these Olympic medals because we want to get better. We are working on trying new things and developing ourselves. If you ask my employees, they are probably crazy for me, because I have had so many strange ideas. But if one out of ten works and gets a little better, a little better — after all, those seventeen percent can be what makes you win next time, says Peder Fredrickson.