Wilm Vermeir wins the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup presented by BMW

They were five: three Belgians and two Germans. They were the only ones to be clear in the first round. They were five: three Belgians and two Germans. They were the only ones to be clear in the first round. The course designer Eddy Geysemans brought a challenging course for the world-class field of participants. After a strong first round, the audience in the Nekkerhal was sitting on the edge of their seats, ready for a tough jump-off.

And tough, it was! Hans-Dieter Dreher (GER), Pieter Devos (BELL), Gilles Thomas (BELL), Daniel Deusser (GER) and Wilm Vermeir (BELL) treated the audience to nail-biting clear rounds. A short round-up of their jump-off:

It was Dreher who, with his Holsteiner stallion Cous Cous (Cachas x Lasino), was the first to go. And he deliverd a flawless performance. With a time of 35.19 seconds, the tone was set. The first Belgian to fire up the crowd was Pieter Devos and Mum’s Toupie de la Roque (Kannan x Nabab de Reve). He too was able to stay clear, but with 36.1 seconds he could not beat Dreher’s time. The crowd then pinned all its hopes on Belgium’s Gilles Thomas. So when his horse Calleryama (Cassal x Contender) missed the final jump a loud disapointed sigh soared through the Nekkerhal. Two riders left to go: Germany’s Daniel Deusser with Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z (Olanguagengo x Mr. Blue) and Belgium’s Wilm Vermeir with Iq van het Steentje (Toulon x Kannan). Deusser delivered a perfect round and the crowd went wild: could it get any more exciting? But no… Tobago was just twenty hundredths of a second slower than Cous Cous. He did not make the time to beat. One more chance to knock Hans-Dieter Dreher off the throne: all eyes were on Belgium’s Wilm Vermeir. Never was it so quiet in the Nekkerhal as the audience watched Iq van het Steentje pick up the pace after avery jumped he cleared. Wilm Vermeir came, saw and conquered! The roof went off! Finally another Belgian won THE LONGINES FEI World Cup presented by BMW!

The results:

1. Wilm Vermeir – Iq van het Steentje
2. Hans-Dieter Dreher – Cous Cous
3. Daniel Deusser – Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z

Finally another Belgian victory on Mechelen soil. Wilm Vermeir is the first winner of the world cup since 2011.

Wilm Vermeir:

“This is really incredible. What a victory. This horse, our Iq, is so amazing. He is a family horse, and he will stay in our family. It is not an easy horse but I have known him for so long. He was very sharp in the last competitions, and he has had some down time. But The lack of competition rythm clearly did not bother him. I’m incredibly proud.”

Hans-Dieter Dreher:

“The audience here is truly incredible. I am very pleased with my result. I am very happy to be able to ride here in Mechelen and I hope to come back next year.”

Daniel Deusser

“It was not easy to be even faster in this course. I could have turned a bit better, but I’m quite happy with my result.”

Thanks to his third place, Deusser is as good as sure of a qualification for the Longines FEI World Cup Final in Omaha. “This result allows me to give Tobago some rest in January. This will allow us to prepare for the World Cup Final. I’m sure I’m still going to compete the coming months and hopefully I will win, but there’s less pressure now.”

This edition of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup, presented by BMW, was again phenomenal. The audience in Mechelen got to enjoy some wonderfull competitions and motivated the riders to give it their all. Thanks to the cooperation with partner BMW, riders were also able to compete for a nice sum of prize money: no less than 250 000 euro was distributed. Bovendien reed Wilm Vermeir naar huis met de iconische BMW M1 35i. It was an unbelievable show!