Oslo: Christian Kukuk on fifth place at World Cup.

Oslo (fn-press).
The World Cup of show jumping has started into the new season. In Norway's capital Oslo 35 pairs took part in the World Cup show jumping, seven of them reached the jump-off after clear rounds. The fastest time was achieved by the Dutch rider Kevin Jochems with the Zangersheide stallion Turbo. The best German rider was Christian Kukuk (Riesenbeck) with the Westphalian gray Checker in fifth place.

Whereas last year's World Cup season was very sparse due to numerous show cancellations, the calendar is likely to offer show jumpers a fairly full program again this autumn and winter half-year. As always, the Oslo Horse Show in the huge event hall "Telenor Arena" kicked things off. The main jumping competition, the World Cup qualifier worth 1.8 million crowns (around 185,000 euros), was won by the Dutch rider Kevin Jochems. The 26-year-old, who works as a rider for the Dutch stud farm "Black Horses", rode the Zangersheide stallion Turbo by Thunder vd Zuuthoeve. In the seven-strong jump-off, the pair managed the fastest, clear round: 44.77 seconds, first place. The second best result was achieved by the Belgian Pieter Clemens with the KWPN mare Hulde G (0/46.09) ahead of the Swede Jens Fredricson. The brother of world number one Peder Fredricson and the Swedish gelding Markan Cosmopolit finished in 46.72 seconds.

Christian Kukuk was the only German rider to qualify for the jump-off. The rider in the Beerbaum stable and the eleven-year-old Westphalian gelding Checker, a son of Comme il Faut, achieved the second-fastest time, but did not finish the course without any faults: A jump-off in 45.31 seconds meant fifth place. Gerrit Nieberg (Sendenhorst) also competed in Oslo. The 28-year-old and the ten-year-old Westphalian gelding Ben by Sylvain collected four faults in the round and finished eleventh. The next World Cup stop will take the competitors to the French metropolis of Lyon. There, both the show jumpers and the dressage riders will be hunting for World Cup points. In mid-April 2022, the World Cup Final in Leipzig will decide who will be the kings and queens of the indoor season. hen