It was one of the most dramatic show jumping moments of the Paris Games.
After one of only 20 fault-free first-rounds in the qualifier, Martin Fuchs lost a stirrup early on course in the Individual Final.
Despite his valiant effort to regain it—and after taking several, towering, 1.65m jumps one stirrup down—the Swiss rider’s plight continued to snowball, eventually catching up with him and Leone Jei at the final jump on course.
“It was a very disappointing Olympic Games,” Fuchs admitted in the press conference of the CSIO5* Rolex Grand Prix of Ireland on Sunday, August 18.
“In a way, it was wonderful and great—everything about it—and the horse was in top shape. And then, we had the heartbreaking rail there at the last fence, when we lost our chance to battle for the medal in the jump-off.”
So, this weekend, in the Rolex Grand Prix of Ireland, Fuchs agreed that he was indeed jumping off with redemption in mind. “I really love those jump-offs. I have great horses that have a big stride, and are very careful. That’s what allowed me, today, to do a stride less to the last fence.”
This weekend, and in true Irish style, fortune favored the brave on Course Designer Alan Wade’s (IRL) challenging, 1.60m track.
Of the seven horses in the 40-horse field that were clear into the second round, Ireland’s Mark McAuley became the pathfinder, keeping all the rails in the cups aboard GRS Lady Amaro to stop the clock at 38.74 seconds. The next five riders were unable to catch him, until Fuchs and Connor Jei trotted into the RDS Dublin Horse Show’s sprawling grass stadium.
In the end, it all came down to a bending line to the Rolex oxer.
Though it rode in a forward eight strides for every other competitor, Fuchs and Connor Jei hit the ground with one mission in mind: getting down to the Rolex in seven. Though far away at takeoff, the pair hit their mark, jumping clear to stop the clock and take the win on 38.69 seconds. The USA’s Aaron Vale took third with Carissimo 25 (38.76 seconds).
“I thought that [last line] could be the winning factor,” Fuchs told Rolex after his win, noting when he walked the course that seven strides would be out of the realm of possibility for most of his fellow competitors. “Connor Jei jumped it fantastic.”
According to an always-wry Alan Wade, the course designer wasn’t sure that last line would be a deal-breaker (**wink/nudge**). “I honestly didn’t measure from the second-last to the last,” Wade joked.
“At this level, I just knew I had a nice curve, and I knew it was a long way away, and that [the riders would] measure it. So there was no point in me wondering what the strideage was.”
Fuchs and the 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding—who have been paired together since 2020—previously won two, *5 grands prix at Windsor (GBR) and Falsterbo (SWE) in 2023. Ironically, Fuchs’s uncle, five-time Swiss Olympian Markus Fuchs, also won the Grand Prix of Dublin 23 years ago—and the Irish have been talking about it ever since.
“My Uncle Markus has won this before—I think most people in Ireland still call me Markus,” Fuchs joked after his victory. “Six or seven times this week, already—even Cian O’Connor called my Markus one [time] today!
“I’m sure everybody thinks Markus won for the second time.”