“Ladies first!” at the World Equestrian Games

As Robert Skrzypczak noted on Eurosport Poland, equestrian sports are some of the only ones in which men and women compete against each other at the highest level. And alongside Blum’s win at the Tryon Games, which wrapped up yesterday after a sometimes turbulent and occasionally thrilling couple of weeks, the top prize in dressage went to German star Isabell Werth (followed by rivals Laura Graves of the United States and Charlotte Dujardin of Great Britain), while the victory in eventing went to Brit Rosalind Canter. As one journalist put it, “The future is female, and it has arrived.”

And yet this is not the first time that women have captured the World Champion title in all three disciplines in the same year. For example, in 1986, Denmark’s Anne Grethe Jensen and Marzog won in dressage, Great Britain’s Virginia Leng and Priceless came out on top in eventing and Canada’s Gail Greenough and Mr. T were first in jumping. At the time, the different disciplines held separate championships, with the first combined Games taking place in 1990 in Stockholm. 

This week in North Carolina, the 29-year daughter of Olympian Jürgen Blum had already won a Team bronze with Germany on Friday, behind the United States and Sweden. And in the Individual competition, Blum, ranked 142nd in the world heading into the WEG, strung together clear rounds on designer Alan Wade’s courses, with just one penalty point at the end – pocketing the $90,660 in prize money for top spot. Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs and Steve Guerdat were second and third on Clooney and Bianca respectively, with their silver and bronze medals accompanied by pay-outs of $70,760 and $51,860.

“This was a perfect day,” said Blum afterwards. “Alice jumped great for the whole week, she had no fault in five rounds of competition – she was unbelievable! And she’s so careful…. She has the biggest heart and I think this week she knew that she could win the hearts of all of the sport…. she really wanted this win today!”

As for the Swiss, the final results were extra-special for the riders on the podium, after dropping to fourth and missing out on a medal in the Team event. “I think everybody knows that I’m the son of Philippe Guerdat [the French coach] and I have an amazing family and an amazing brother,” said Steve Guerdat. “But everyone also knows how special the Fuchs family is to me. We train together, we are neighbours, we talk every day. They are like my second family and they treat me like I’m their third son, so that makes it as special as it gets!”

Speaking of special, Simone Blum has another big day on her mind, as reported by Louise Parkes of the Fédération Équestre Internationale. Paying tribute to her husband, fellow rider Hansi Goskowitz, she said, “he found Alice, and he is the most wonderful man for me in the world and it’s just because of him that I am sitting here! I will marry him in the next four weeks – he will become Mr Blum!”