November 21, 2024 
Say that five times fast!
It was a day of shakeups, makeups, and nail-biting moments during the GCL Super Cup Semi Final on Thursday, November 21. So much so that Norwegian Olympian and seasoned championship rider Geir Gulliksen had a physical reaction.
The team manager for the Scandinavian Vikings developed a serious case of the goosebumps as he discussed his team’s surprise qualification for Saturday’s Final on GCTV.
“This is a team sport. The first day, we all sat together and we said, ‘We’re going to win together, and we’re going to lose together, and we’re going to decide together what we’re going to do,’” an emotional Gulliksen said.
“In my life, I think positive. I’m not starting to look for problems. I don’t look for difficulties, I look for possibilities,” the Team Manager continued. “We’re not thinking, ‘Oh, this is too much for us, we’d better just go for sixth place.’ No! We start again from zero on Saturday, and we’re positive, and we think we can do well.”
After finishing 13th (of 14) in the standings in the regular season, the Vikings were hardly a favorite coming into this competition, but have so far defied the odds in Riyadh. They made it through to the Semi Finals yesterday on a score of 24—and the skin of their teeth—and were the second-to-last to qualify for the Final on Thursday.
Whether the Vikings can continue to conquer on Saturday is anyone’s guess, but if they are the GCL Super Cup’s underdog story, then the Shanghai Swans are its Kansas City Chiefs.
After a historic zero-score finish in the quarterfinals, Ben Maher (Point Break) and Daniel Deusser (Killer Queen VDM) jumped clear once again in the semis, joined by Christian Ahlmann (Mandato van de Neerheide), who dropped a single pole.
“I had a little issue with my horse just before starting, but when I got in there he jumped a great round. We’ve got great riders on this team so it made it slightly easier,” Maher explained after the class.
“All the horses are jumping great, so we’re in a good position for Saturday.”
Taking the backseat today, Swans teammate Max Kühner was on the ground to provide an expert pair of eyes for his teammates—a position he’s not often in. “I have no experience in watching, I am more experienced in riding, myself,” Kühner joked.
“You just want to support them and there is always some tension in the air. But all of them did a fantastic job.”
Of all the tense moments on Thursday, perhaps no one felt it more than Cannes Stars rider Katrin Eckermann during the last round of the day.
After a dominant 2024 season crowned by the championship title, the Stars were predicted to cruise into the Super Cup Final without issue. Lead-off rider Sophie Hinners (Iron Dames Singclair) did little to dissuade that notion, finishing on a fast clear. Then, things took a bit of a turn.
Teammates Natalie Dean (Acota M) and Eckermann (Iron Dames Cala Mandia NRW) struggled, dropping two rails and one rail, a piece. After incurring her fault mid-round, Eckermann put her foot down, realizing she was in a battle against the clock for the last remaining top-six spot on the GCL Super Cup Finals startlist.
Stopping the timers at 72.23 seconds, the German rider’s gamble paid off, knocking Valkenswaard United out of the competition by just a few seconds. That latter joined fellow eliminated teams the Rome Gladiators, New York Empire, the Doha Falcons, the Mexico Amigos, and the Istanbul Warriors.
Interestingly, of the teams in Saturday’s Final, half received a bye into the Semi Finals thanks to their performance in the regular season (Cannes Stars, Riesenbeck International, and the Stockholm Hearts), while the other half had to battle their way through two rounds in the GCL Super Cup (Shanghai Swans, Prague Lions, and Scandinavian Vikings).
On Saturday, the playing field will be fully level once again, with all teams returning on a zero score. What’s more: Many lineups are still pending finalization based on a team member’s performance in Friday’s LGCT Super Grand Prix.
In other words? It’s anyone’s guess which team will top the podium on Saturday. Tune in for the Final at 17:25 local time to find out!
