It was a victory for the Swedish show jumping team in the Nations Cup competition in Falsterbo, after a dramatic jump-off against Germany had to decide.
It feels really good. It was really a rollercoaster day, says national team captain Henric Ankarcrona to SVT.
Sweden climbed from fourth place all the way to victory in Friday's national show jumping competition, which was decided on home ground in Falsterbo.
The first round of two started perfectly for world number one Henrik von Eckermann on Iliana with a faultless round.
Teammates Wilma Hellström on Cicci Bjn, Emma Emanuelsson on Canberra Blue and Amanda Landeblad on For Killy had a tougher time and each got one fault, which means four faults each.
Each nation gets to discard its worst result, and thus Sweden had eight faults and a fourth place going into the second round.
Tough for von Eckermann
The second round started much tougher for Sweden, after world number one von Eckermann got two faults, and suddenly the situation looked tough for the Swedish team.
It was not a good round. Bad riding gives bad results, as they say, says von Eckermann to SVT.
Then it was the trio Hellström, Emanuelsson and Landeblad's turn to step forward. They all delivered faultless rounds – something that was enough to secure a shared first place with Germany, and a jump-off to decide the winner.
Henrik didn't quite get it together in the second round, but then the other three stepped up, so it shows the breadth we're building up, says national team captain Henric Ankarcrona.
"Rollercoaster day"
It was Emanuelsson and Canberra Blue who got the trust in the jump-off and the pair put the pedal to the metal, but got one fault.
Experienced German André Thieme had the Swede's result to beat – but failed to capitalize on the situation, instead knocking down a fence and with a worse time, Sweden's victory was secured.
It feels really good. It was really a rollercoaster day, but I'm incredibly happy for all the riders, says Ankarcrona.
