Steve Guerdat joins an exclusive club comprising just three riders

The individual gold medal won in Aachen with Dynamix de Belheme completes a collection that only Hans Günter Winkler and Jeroen Dubbeldam had previously achieved: the Olympic, World and European titles.

The Swiss rider had already experienced winning the Olympic Games, being crowned European champion and lifting the World Cup. However, one piece was still missing. The individual World Championship gold was the only one of the three major championships still missing from his record. With his victory in Aachen, Guerdat has completed the individual Triple Crown in show jumping and has become only the third rider in history to achieve this feat.

Before him, only two riders had managed to win all three titles: Hans Günter Winkler and Jeroen Dubbeldam.

From London to Aachen, via Milan

Guerdat’s journey towards this unique Triple Crown began at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Riding Nino des Buissonnets, the Swiss rider claimed the individual gold medal and achieved one of the greatest successes of his career.

The next major title came eleven years later. At the 2023 European Championships in Milan, Dynamix de Belheme and Guerdat were crowned European champions, marking the start of a partnership that would continue to deliver results at the very highest level. A year later, they won individual silver at the Paris Olympic Games and now, in Aachen, they have secured world gold.

This track record also speaks to the Swiss rider’s ability to remain among the elite for years and to build sporting partnerships with horses capable of competing on the most demanding stages. Both Nino des Buissonnets and Dynamix de Belheme – the two horses with which Guerdat has secured his three major individual titles – are registered in the French Saddle Horse stud book.

Winkler was the first; Dubbeldam was the next

The first rider to win the Triple Crown was Hans Günter Winkler, one of the greatest figures in the history of German equestrian sport. The German won the World Championships in Madrid in 1954 and claimed the title again a year later in Aachen. In 1956, he won the individual gold medal at the Stockholm Olympic Games and subsequently completed the hat-trick by winning the European title.

For decades, no one managed to repeat that feat.

It was not until Jeroen Dubbeldam that another rider capable of winning all three titles emerged. The Dutchman began his journey with the individual Olympic gold at Sydney 2000 alongside De Sjiem. Fourteen years later, at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Caen, he was crowned world champion with SFN Zenith.