Chio in Aachen: chills and feelings of happiness

It’s that small moment, a few tenths of a second, that takes your breath away. The moment the horse starts jumping over the obstacle, the rider stretches as if he wants to talk the animal down. The next moment belongs to the reaction of 40,000 people in the Aachen Surz stadium.

The silence before the hurricane

jubilation when the jump was a success, a collective groan when something went wrong. What follows is a “schschsch” of 1,000 throats from true connoisseurs, who demand absolute silence as the only permitted accompaniment to the joint focus of man and animal, who have long been on their way to the next hurdle. It’s similar to the “satisfy the calm” you know from Wimbledon, but that’s not why these two major events are compared to each other, but because of their uniqueness and status as being the best for every aspiring athlete.

Ludger Bierbaum called the rink an “extraordinary stadium with an extraordinary atmosphere”. Markus Enning, who has already traveled to many countries as a team Olympic champion and world champion, almost refuses when asked to describe Aachen: “It is very difficult to express in words. Whether for the rider or the spectator. It gives you goosebumps and happy feelings, when you wipe the tour.”

“Aachen is our temple, the best tournament in the world.”

Meredith Michaels Bierbaum, 2005 Aachen winner

Christian Ahlmann agrees: “There are 40,000 people out there who would keep their fingers crossed for you. They’re just as focused as you.” Ahlmann enthuses, calling the support “something unique.” The reason is “why are you looking forward to this feeling and this heroism”. Meredith Michaels-Berbaum also cringes when she thinks of Soers: “Aachen is our temple, the best tournament in the world. I was here for the first time in 1989 with George Morris. And I felt like I was going to come back to win.” Which she actually did in 2005.

Football is Wembley, cycling is the Tour de France – and horseback riding is Aachen

There are many tennis tournaments, but only one is Wimbledon. There are a lot of cycling tours, but only one. There are many football stadiums but only one Wembley stadium. Thus there are many horse shows all over the world, but there is only one Aachen Show. This is the credo of the event, which will celebrate its 100th birthday next year and is now one of the most important and successful sporting events in Germany. And – in defiance of the reputation of the elite cavalry – someone who does not strive for gender equality, but has long been aware of it.

Women ride against men in the same competition and, if successful, receive the same money as their fellow rider. There are a lot of euros in circulation and Managing Director Michael Mruns and his team from “Aachener Reitturnier GmbH” have professionalized the event. Today’s tournament is part of the Show Jumping Grand Slam. It consists of four events in Canada (“Spruce Meadows Masters” / Calgary), Switzerland (CHI Geneva), the Netherlands (“Dutch Masters” / s’Hertogenbosch) and Aachen.

Brash has so far only won a show jumping Grand Slam

Whoever wins three events in a row gets €1 million in addition to the prize money. This also stimulates. Show Jumping Grand Slam celebrates its 10th anniversary in Aachen – where it was first launched. Only one contestant, Brett Scott Brush, managed to win it. This year it will be exciting because McLain Ward (USA) has the opportunity to do the same. He won the last two major tournaments, if he wins in Aachen, he collects the million dollar bonus. Thanks to his victory, he already had a reward of 500,000 euros.

250 thousand euros for the winning team and half a million euros for the individual

With a total budget of 20 million euros (roughly comparable to the seasonal budget of a second-division football team from the bottom half), 3.9 million euros are distributed in prize money, the “Aachen Grand Prix” has a total bonus of 1.5 million euros, the winner gets 500,000 euros . The “Prize of Nations” (for the Knights, the “prestigious international match” with defending champion Germany) is €1 million, and the winning team collects €250,000. With the official opening ceremony on 27 June, Aachen is once again under the influence of the “Concours Hippique International Officiel” or for short: CHIO.

It is the only tournament on German soil that is allowed to stage Nations Cups, and this happens in all five disciplines: quadruple driving and jumping, then the main Olympic competitions, dressage and show jumping. Around 90 hours of high-performance sport for horses and people is spread over these competitions, 330 active people (jockeys, riders and jumpers) from 32 countries at the start with 657 horses in the championship. Nearly 800 accredited journalists write about an event that attracts nearly 400,000 people and millions in front of screens.

Legend reporter Sustmaier comments with tears in his eyes

Last year’s Beaming CHIO winner: Gerrit Nieberg on Ben.
IMAGO / Sven Simon

One of those journalists will be ARD correspondent Carsten Soustmaier (63) – “The Voice of Equestrian Sport”. And anyone who watched Gerrit Nyberg’s winning ride last year hopes Soustie must have mustered an extra load of napkins in no time. His emotional outbursts including tears – when Nyberg and 11-year-old foe Chestnut secured the ‘Aachen Grand Prix’ after a true tour de force – are memorable simply because he was genuine. It came down to the seasoned journalist, not for nationalistic reasons, but because he already knew this winning rider when his father, Lars Nyberg, pushed him through the facility in Aachen with his carriage.

This can be compared to a Formula 1 race.

European Champion Andre Thiem

In these moments, Nieberg experienced first-hand the internal and external effects of his great ride in this special setting, tackling numerous side obstacles to save time in order to immediately return to the correct position. Externally, this reaction was generated: “My WhatsApp account overflowed, message after message came, even from people I never expected.” Inside, “The dream definitely came true, it was a very special moment for me.” A look at the list of winners shows just how special they are. In 2003, 20 years ago, Ludger Bierbaum was the last athlete able to defend his title. Selective track (European Champion Andre Thiem: “It’s like a Formula 1 race!”) requires 100 percent rider and horse, plus luck, courage, willingness to take risks – and plenty of staying power.

Your Royal Highness and Prime Minister

An amazing 31 years passed between the first victory in 1982 and the last victory in 2013 for record winner Nick Skelton, who won four times in Aachen. Skelton no longer rides, but his native UK is present as a partner country for this year’s event. He even sprinkles a little princess royal dust on the old imperial city: Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, is the guest of honor at the opening on June 27, and she’ll be speaking about the inaugural formula with NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Fust. The opening follows Media Night, which has been a frontier town social highlight for years, where stars and stars come and go. Actors such as Sir Christopher Lee and Sir Roger Moore gave the event special shine, and last year Thomas Müller, Franziska van Almseck, Britta Heinemann and star violinist David Garrett all made the honors themselves, as did Christophe Daum.

Aachen – this too is seen and seen. The fact that the sport does not suffer from this legitimizes this event. And anyone who experiences the almost childlike enthusiasm of every rider these days knows that a lot is being done right in Aachen anyway.