And after an unpromising start, a 28-year-old Frenchman claims the individual victory over his more veteran rivals.

The outcome of the Alltech FEI European Show Jumping Championships had never been more unpredictable than it was on Aug. 26-30 at Windsor Castle in England.

With a Nations Cup competition that went right down to the last rider and a young upstart from France stepping into the individual spotlight, there was plenty of unexpected action to keep spectators on the edge of their seats.

While Switzerland began the competition in the lead, they dropped down the scoreboard and then re-emerged for a dramatic come-from-behind victory over 16 other nations. The victory over Italy and Germany was all the more exciting for the Swiss squad, considering it was their first team gold at the competition in 14 years.

The team laid down their markers in the opening speed leg, with Pius Schwizer (Ulysse) and Steve Guerdat (Jalisca Solier) filling the top two places. Schwizer was quickest, going 13th in the order out of 77 horses, but he wished he’d given himself even more breathing room at the time.

“I thought I could have gone faster,” he said. “Normally the first day is the worst day for my horse.”

With a solid result from Clarissa Crotta on West Side v. Meerputhoeve, the Swiss headed the team standings on Wednesday by a hair’s breadth over the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Italy and Germany.

Competition continued on Friday, when the weather was unseasonably cool even for Britain, so conditions were ideal for the two Nations Cup rounds, which began at 8:30 a.m. The early start made for fresh horses and foggy Swiss heads. The team lost their lead to the Dutch squad, who had three riders lower just one fence each in the first round.

Switzerland dropped quickly to fourth after Schwizer lowered three fences, Guerdat two and Daniel Etter (Peu A Peu) and Crotta one each. But they weren’t ready to let go yet, and during the three-hour break Guerdat said he and his teammates galvanized themselves.

“I didn’t ride well in the first round and felt I had let the others down,” he admitted. “But we knew our horses were jumping good, so we went back in to fight and to try even harder.”

It worked, for while Crotta took down two rails and Schwizer took his turn as the drop score with three, determined clears by Etter and Guerdat, the anchorman, left the Swiss on top with a score of 27.66, earning their first team gold since winning on home ground at St. Gallen in 1995. Italy came second on 31.00, while Germany scored the bronze with 31.75.

The five drama-filled days of competition were most notable for the relative back seat taken by Germany, who rose up the order at the late stages, an indifferent team performance by the French favorites, and the continuing renaissance of Italy under the new management of Markus Fuchs.

Although it fell apart for the Italians in the final stages of the individual contest, their team silver medal—their first medal at this level—was the talk of the event.

Italy had a worrying start to the final round when Juan Carlos Garcia and Hamilton de Perhet incurred 12 faults, but Giuseppe d’Onofrio (Landzeu) hit only the oxer at 10, and Natale Chiaudani’s (SNAI Seldana di Campalto) second clear—the only double-clear round of the day—pushed Germany down to bronze position.

For Fuchs, who only recently retired from the Swiss team and became the Italian coach, it was a day of dual emotions. He’s largely credited with securing the Italian victory at the Dublin Nations Cup (Ireland) just weeks after coming onboard.

While pointing out that Dublin and Windsor were the first times Italy had fielded this particular rider combination, Chiaundani said the team had needed Fuchs to get behind them “with a big stick.”

“Maybe I’m a better motivator than I was a rider,” Fuchs responded. “If you asked three days ago how I would feel if Italy beat Switzerland, I would have said it would be a miracle! But hey, see the character of this team? They are fantastic!”

No Shutterfly For Germany

Germany’s team bronze seemed underwhelming when compared to the country’s dominance in past years, but with doping scandals plaguing many of their elite riders, a new, less experienced team was scrambled for the  Championships.

“I was excited to win team bronze,” German star Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum said. “This is a new German team with a new chef d’equipe, and our goal was to win a medal.”

Perhaps unfortunately for the German team and certainly disappointingly for spectators, Michaels-Beerbaum made a late decision to defend her individual title on Checkmate, stating that Shutterfly should be more sparingly campaigned at the age of 16.

Initially, Checkmate didn’t look as if he would make a big impression, lying 32nd after the speed leg after faulting at the first element of the triple combination and the penultimate oxer. However, by running on strongly throughout the week, Checkmate made quiet progress up the leaderboard and was at one stage sixth in the individual final.

“Checkmate was a bit out of control and pulled the reins out of my hands over the water in the second round,” Michaels-Beerbaum said. “I had a hard fight in the Nations Cup. This was certainly one of the toughest European Championships I’ve ever competed in.”

A Flourishing French Finish

This year’s championships took place in the Home Park of Windsor Castle, the private grounds of Her Majesty the Queen, who was away on her traditional August vacation in Scotland.

Course builder Bob Ellis went for an English country garden theme, with much statuary in evidence. Other fences resembled the Castle and Britain’s trademark red-pillared mailboxes.

Cosmetic dressing was one thing, but adjusting to floodlights after an outdoor season was quite another for some. During the first night’s warm-up, the eventual champion’s horse, Kraque Boom Bois Margot, became so overwhelmed by the atmosphere that he planted his feet and flatly refused to move, eventually having to be given a lead.

But Kevin Staut’s mount seemed to bloom up more and more each time he entered the arena, and on Sunday the 28-year-old Frenchman claimed the individual title ahead of the more experienced Carsten-Otto Nagel of Germany and Albert Zoer of the Netherlands.

The individual final saw Italy’s laidback, pipe-smoking Chiaudani, a rider ranked 51st in the world, at the top of 25 qualifiers asked to tackle some even tougher tests in reverse order of scores from Days 1 and 2.

Twelve managed clear goes in the first round, but it finally unravelled for the Italian when his horse dropped two rails. In swooped Zoer with his Oki Doki, moving into gold position for the final throes.

As the top six went into battle, a rare misjudgement in turning to the pillar boxes put Michaels-Beerbaum and Checkmate out of the picture, while fatigue seemed to affect Guerdat’s Jalisca Solier, who had 12 faults. Cameron Hanley and SIEC Livello for Ireland left all the fences upright and had medal in their sights, but 1 time fault ultimately proved costly and dropped them to fourth.

Nagel’s mare Corradina had secured a medal by the time she jumped, and her rider had reason to be optimistic when he returned the first clear round of the finale, but then Staut repeated the feat.

Scarcely able to watch Zoer lay down the last round, Staut stayed in the collecting ring to cool off his horse. But he knew instantly from the crowd’s groan that Zoer had knocked the very first fence, handing Staut the victory.

“When I hit the fence I wasn’t happy, but I knew I had to concentrate and go on because the bronze medal was still there,” Zoer said.

The new champion is the first French rider to win since Alexandra Ledermann’s victory, also in the United Kingdom, at Hickstead 10 years ago. Staut has previously been based at one of the state-owned breeding centres, the Haras de Hus near Nantes, but he is relocating his dealing business to Brussels, Belgium, for a spell.

Kraque Boom, an 11-year-old, came to his yard as a dealing horse four years ago, and his grandparents bought a majority share before acquiring the stallion outright.

“I hope this will do good things for French breeding and that it will encourage our young riders,” Staut said. “France has been through some difficult times over the past few years, but this summer we won the Meydan [FEI Nations Cup] series, and now I have won here, so I hope this motivates everyone to keep going!”