Historic team gold at the World Equestrian Championships in Sweden

Thus, they did not have to wait for the star Peder Frederiksson, who was the last Swedish jockey. With the purity of gold, the more famous brother made a failed jump, twelve fouls after three ruptures. Individually, he dropped from third to 27th and was not even allowed to jump on Sunday.

– This is so unbelievable that it is hard to believe. When was the team competition determined before the last contestant? Unbelievable, what a cold, what a great jump, screams SVT sports expert Lotta Björe after the thrilling jump in Herning, Denmark.

Jens Fredrickson was not part of the team that won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo last year. Others on the team: Henrik von Eckermann, Malin Baryard Johnson and Peder Fredrickson followed last year’s Olympic gold medal in the same category at WC.

Von Eckermann is faultless though a scared horse

Henrik von Eckermann started and rode flawlessly in the 79.80 time after the drama before jumping. The horse King Edward was alarmed by the crowd, the applause, and the lights in the arena. One of the obstacles was touched, but it remained.

He was a little nervous at first and I tried to calm him down but not so much because of the stress over time. I’ve been a bit lucky in the middle with a triple combination, but maybe that’s what we need today, von Eckermann tells SVT Sport.

– He’s totally crazy. What a great start. It’s paving the way for Sweden tonight, says Lotta Bure, sports expert at SVT.

It can also be a medal individually

Prior to tonight’s jump, von Eckermann finished fourth apart and is on track to be able to win his medal as well. The top 25 teams after tonight advance to Sunday’s round.

The other Swedish entrants are Malin Baryard-Johnsson with Indiana who tore up an obstacle and got four fouls. Before the final, the prerequisite was that three flawless Swedish jumps should be enough to get gold. But after several demolitions by competitors, it was already clear after three riders despite four faults, and one demolition, by Baryard-Johnsson.

Sweden has never won a WC gold in team competition. In 2018 in the USA and in 2002 in Spain there were Swedish silver medals. The Netherlands won the silver medal over Great Britain in the bronze medal.