WORLD NO.1 showjumper Henrick von Eckermann took a shock tumble during the individual showjumping finals.
The Swede was one of 30 riders who made it to Tuesday morning’s finals at the Palace of Versailles.
RXSweden’s Henrik von Eckermann was the favourite to retain the individual showjumping gold medal[/caption]
GETTYBut he suffered a spectacular tumble a mere 35 seconds into his ride[/caption]
REXKing Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden couldn’t quite believe Von Eckermann’s tumble[/caption]
But equestrian fans around the world were left stunned when he was thrown off his horse and into an obstacle.
Von Eckermann was hoisted into the air by his horse – King Edward – a mere 35 seconds into their routine.
All seemed to be going well until the horse galloped towards the side of the arena moments after briefly losing its balance after completing a jump.
King Edward then suddenly stopped and threw Von Eckermann into a wooden obstacle.
Thankfully, Von Eckermann – who won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – didn’t land on his head and appeared to avoid serious injury.
He promptly returned to his feet and began looking for King Edward, who had gone the other way.
BBC commentator Andy Austin was left stunned by the incident, which he claimed was the “most extraordinary thing’” he’d seen.
Eurosport’s Richard Vaughan said: “I can’t believe it. Something was not right.
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“He looked a bit odd yesterday, I thought they did very well to scramble around but it has all fallen apart.
“It was unravelling earlier on.
“They got over the big double then the water seemed OK but then after that, the horse seemed to run away.”
Von Eckermann’s loss was the gain of Germany‘s Christian Kukuk, who claimed gold on board Check 47.
Switzerland‘s Steve Guerdat and Dyanmix De Belheme took home silver.
The Netherlands’ Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z claimed the bronze medal.
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