Versailles, Aug. 6, (dpa/GNA) – German show jumper Christian Kukuk grabbed Olympic equestrian gold on Tuesday after emerging first in a tense jump-off in the individual jumping competition.
Kukuk, on Checker 47, managed the final without penalties along with Swiss rider Steve Guerdat and Dutch show jumper Maikel van der Vleuten.
That prompted a jump-off and despite Kucuk being the slowest of the three in the final, the 34-year-old prevailed in the equivalent of a tie-break to give the German riders a fourth gold medal at the Paris Games.
Kukuk secured the 100th Olympic medal for German equestrian sport, as calculated by governing body the FEI.
Eventing rider Michael Jung, the dressage team and dressage rider Jessica von Bredow-Werndl had previously won Olympic golds at the Palace of Versailles gardens over the past week.
Guerdat took silver, winning Switzerland’s first equestrian medal since he won gold in 2012. The 42-year-old, who also won team jumping bronze way back in 2008, was partnered in Versailles by Dynamix de Belheme.
Van der Vleuten on Beauville Z had to settle for bronze.
The last individual Olympic jumping gold for a German show jumper was in 1996 when Ulrich Kirchhoff won in Atlanta with Jus de Pommes.
Four years later, Germany won the show jumping team gold medal.
Kukuk is the sixth individual German winner. The German show jumpers came away empty-handed from the Tokyo Games three years ago.